Browsing by Subject "lapsuuden seksuaalinen hyväksikäyttö"
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(2017)Traumatic childhood experiences predispose psychiatric symptoms in adulthood. Sexually abused children have more behavioral problems, depressive symptoms, feel more shame and have lower self-esteems compared to other children. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by fear of abandonment, aggression towards self and others, difficulty of controlling feelings and behavior, instability of identity and self-destructive behavior, and these traits could hypothetically stem from shameful and traumatic childhood experiences. BPD has a relatively strong genetic component, but the specific etiological factors are still unclear. In this review, the aim is to see whether there is a connection between child sexual abuse and BPD, how specific forms of abuse correlate with BPD and ultimately, to show whether child sexual abuse is a relevant factor in the etiology of BPD. Studies show that childhood sexual abuse was significantly common in the histories of people with BPD. People suffering from BPD had experienced childhood sexual abuse more often than people with depression, schizophrenia or healthy controls had. However, there was no difference in the prevalence of sexual abuse between BPD and other personality disorders. In these studies, there was no difference in the familiarity of the perpetrator, but on average people with BPD had experienced sexual abuse slightly earlier in childhood. Reliable conclusions could not be made about duration, frequency, seeking help, nature of abuse or use of force due to scarcity and narrow focus of previous research on the subject. The results presented in this review suggest that childhood sexual abuse does not play a part in the development of BPD as an independent causative factor. However, the lack of uniform usage of the term ”sexual abuse” and the interrelatedness of sexual abuse, other forms of abuse and family environmental factors all pose challenges for interpreting the results. The observed connection between BPD and childhood sexual abuse could be explained by the cumulative problems associated with underprivileged families, which can result in neglect and thus being more vulnerable to abuse. Additional longitudinal and meta-analytical research is needed to clarify the connections.
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(2019)Psychotic disorders are quite rare but severe mental disorders. For example, the life time prevalence for schizophrenia is only 0.5 %, whereas the life time prevalence for psychotic symptoms is approximately 5 - 6 %. Psychotic symptoms can predict problems with mental health and they are often considered to be early signs of the beginning of a psychotic disorder. Psychotic disorders can cause impairments in a person’s ability to handle daily tasks and they are known to have a negative impact on the general quality of life. Therefore, it is extremely important to recognize factors that may cause psychotic disorders in order to prevent their development. It is known, that psychotic symptoms and psychotic disorders can be explained by multiple different factors, but it has been suggested that childhood sexual abuse is one of these explaining factors. However, victims of sexual abuse will not always develop a psychotic disorder. Therefore, it is especially important to understand, which of the underlying factors could possibly transmit or moderate the link between childhood sexual abuse and psychotic symptoms. When the association is known, victims of sexual abuse can be supported properly. For the literature selection of my thesis, I chose studies which discussed psychotic symptoms of persons with sexual abuse history in childhood as well as studies, which examined traumatic childhood experiences retrospectively of patients with first-episode psychosis. In addition, the literature selection included population based studies, which examined both sexual abuse history in childhood and psychotic symptoms from randomly selected sample. Many of the studies used retrospective self-report questionnaires in the collection of data, while there were also some studies where data was based on medical records. In my thesis I examine the link between childhood sexual abuse and psychotic symptoms and especially that which factors have an impact on such link and which moderate it. The symptoms of general psychopathology, such as anxiety, are essential factors transmitting the link. Additionally, other childhood trauma experiences also have an impact on the link: emotional and physical abuse transmit the path to the positive psychotic symptoms whereas physical neglect mediates the path to the negative symptoms. It is also known, that the link between sexual abuse and psychotic symptoms is stronger with females than males. Childhood sexual abuse is strongly associated with psychotic symptoms. Therefore, psychotic symptoms increase the risk of developing psychotic disorder and hence, it is important to take notice for the showing symptoms as soon as possible.
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(2017)Studies have shown that significant proportion of people with eating disorders have reported childhood sexual abuse. However, the link between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders is still unclear. Eating disorder is a severe condition, and therefore it is important to find out the mechanisms underlying it. The purpose of current thesis is to examine whether there is an association between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders later in life. Studies on this subject are mostly cross-sectional – therefore, the existence of causal links remains unclear. The few longitudinal studies evaluating the link between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders have produced mixed results. From a biological point of view, the link between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders could stem from the dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Alternatively, the link could result from traumatization, as the trauma model posits. It is probable that the link is a complicated one, with many mediators and moderators influencing it. According to the existing literature, it seems that sexual abuse is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder, especially bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder. According to studies, treatment outcomes for eating disorder patients with a history of childhood sexual abuse have been poor. Thus, early intervention of child sexual abuse is important to prevent the development of eating disorders. In future, there is a need for more, prospective longitudinal studies on this subject that help to understand the link between child sexual abuse and eating disorder.
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