NCJ Number
173917
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 22 Issue: 5 Dated: May 1998 Pages: 359-368
Date Published
1998
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The medical records of 100 adults consecutively admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit in an urban general hospital in New Zealand were studied to determine whether childhood abuse is related to the severity of psychological disturbance in adulthood, even within an extremely disturbed and predominantly psychotic population.
Abstract
The research focused on documented physical or sexual abuse, current suicidality, the length of the current admission to the psychiatric unit, the age at first admission, the use of the Intensive Care Unit, and the use of the Mental Health Act. Fifty-seven participants were male and 43 were female. They ranged from 20 to 67 years of age and had an average age of 37.6 years. The most frequent diagnoses were schizophrenia (n=34), major depressive disorder (n=19), bipolar affective disorder (n=17), and drug abuse (n=17). Results revealed relationships between relationships between childhood sexual or physical abuse and suicidality, the duration of hospitalization, and the age at first admission. In addition, sexually abused males, but not sexually abused females, were significantly more suicidal than their nonabused counterparts. All 9 sexually abused men were highly suicidal, compared to 15 of the 48 men who had not been sexually abused. No significant relationships existed between childhood abuse and the likelihood of an admission being involuntary to some degree or to the use of the Intensive Care Unit, a part of the hospital ward for particularly distressed or distressing individuals. Tables and 45 references (Author abstract modified)