Childhood Trauma: Child Abuse and Neglect

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Childhood trauma can be attributed to many forms of child abuse. It can be described as sexual abuse, physical maltreatment and the witnessing of domestic violence. Males and females that experience childhood trauma will develop impairment in their well-being and will most likely increase their chances in developing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, “The stressful or traumatic event involves a situation where someone's life has been threatened or severe injury has occurred (ex. they may be the victim or a witness of physical abuse, sexual abuse, violence in the home or in the community, automobile accidents, natural disasters (such as flood, fire, earthquakes), and being diagnosed with a life threatening illness). A child's risk of developing PTSD is related to the seriousness of the trauma, whether the trauma is repeated, the child's proximity to the trauma, and his/her relationship to the victim(s).” Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (2011, March).

According to a meta-analysis study done by Pereda, Guilera, Forns, and Gomez-Benito (2009), 19.7% of women and 7.9% of men have a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Children that have been abused sexually before the age of 18 often live with detrimental consequences and show evidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Cutajar et al., 2010). There are various symptoms that contribute to post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of experiencing traumatic events. Some of the main features of post-traumatic stress disorder are recurrent intrusion of memories and reliving of the traumatic event(s) that occurred. The occurrence of the core symptoms are usually measured using questionnaires that ...

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...matology. Males are more likely to attempt or commit suicide, engage in substance abuse and illegal activities, whereas, females are more likely to exhibit symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Research indicates the difference in means of displaying symptoms is due to the stigma surrounding males as being victims of sexual abuse. As a result, males will often seek help through interventions focused on substance abuse rather than directly facing the issues they have experienced during the sensitive years of childhood (Hopton and Huta, 2013).
Furthermore, rates on children encountering physical abuse are more prevalent than any other form of child maltreatment for both genders. In a previous study by Birere and Elliot (2003) found exposure to physical abuse would ultimately lead to high rates of being diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and depression.

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