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Detection and awareness of child sexual abuse in adult psychiatry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Nicky Goater  and
Karena Meehan
Nicky Goater*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Rowland Hill Street, London, NW3 2PF
Karena Meehan
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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We investigated the detection and awareness of child sexual abuse by examining case notes. Child sexual abuse was recorded in 4.7% of cases. There was no evidence that enquiry about child sexual abuse or detection of the problem had increased in recent years, and recording of the details of abuse was rare. Victims received more psychological help and less medication than others. We conclude that awareness of the issue has not increased. Previous findings about child sexual abuse are rarely used in evaluation, and diagnosis and drug treatment may be overlooked in some victims.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , April 1998 , pp. 211 - 213
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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