How to Help Patients With Sexual Abuse

On today’s episode of the podcast, I interview Ginger Simonton, a PhD student finishing her dissertation. We will cover her in-depth research on alleviating the symptomology of childhood sexual abuse.

We will specifically be talking about the link between women who have been sexually abused, never given a chance to heal, and how it has affected their mental and physical health, and programs that can benefit them.

What is childhood sexual abuse?

“The CDC defines the act of CSA as “inducing or coercing a child to engage in sexual acts” that include “fondling, penetration, and exposing a child to other sexual activities” (2017).”

The facts:

88% of sexual abuse cases happen with someone the child knows (Finkelhor, Ormrod, Turner, & Hamby, 2005)

20-30% of women experience some form of sexual abuse before they reach 18 years old (Pereda et al., 2009; Stoltenborgh, Van Ijzendoorn, Euser, Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2011; Bolen & Scannapieco, 1999; Holmes & Slap, 1998; Finkelhor, 1994)

20-40% of survivors have no adverse effects later in life (resilience is the norm) (Paras, Murad, Chen, Goranson, Sattler, Colbenson, Elamin, Seime, Prokop, & Zirakzadeh, 2009)

By listening to this episode, you can earn 1 Psychiatry CME Credits.

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Link to YouTube video.

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