Sexual Abuse and Psychological Disorders, Essay Example

Summary

This paper discusses trauma, sexual abuse, and the potential long term effects that can be suffered as a direct effect of abuse. The researcher has conveyed that sexual abuse can lead to an array of psychological distress, dissociation, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, but the most common disorder is self-mutilation and suicide.  According to the research, people who suffer the most psychological effects have suffered intrusive penetration anal, oral, or vaginal. The researcher, Leslie Young, sought to determine if people who are sexually abused suffer from certain psychological disorders more often than people who were not sexually abused. One common characteristic of abused people is to pretend that the incident did not happen or block it from their memory.

Young also sought to show a connection between the extents of psychological disorders due to the relationship the abused had with the abuser. For example, a person who has been abused by an immediate family member (father or step-father) will have more psychological effects than a person who has been randomly attacked. Researchers believe that this is so because of the breach of trust that is caused when the attacker is one the victim knows. Young also conveys that the traumatic stress level is greater when the abuse is ongoing, rather than just a onetime event. Often when the abuser is known by the relative the abuse can occur for years.

Of all the psychological effects, self-mutilation and suicide attempts are the most common among survivors. According to Young, many of the abused feel that their bodies have betrayed them by being too small or too weak to protect them from their attacker. As a result, when the abused attacks his/her own body, they feel they have somehow gotten even with their body for not being able to save them and their attacker for abusing them. One study that Young looked at discovered that 39 percent of people abused practiced self-mutilation and 16 percent had attempted suicide at least once.

References

Young, L. (1992). Sexual abuse and the problem of embodiment. Child Abuse & Neglect 16(1), 89-100.