"Adults who were maltreated as children are more likely than adults who were not maltreated to develop psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and substance abuse. Based on a review of the literature examining maltreatment as a risk factor for these disorders, HMS researchers at McLean Hospital have concluded that these disorders emerge earlier in people who were abused, with greater severity, more comorbidity and a less favorable response to treatment.
"Maltreatment is characterized by sustained or repeated exposure to events that usually involve a betrayal of trust. "Active" examples are childhood sexual and physical abuse as well as some forms of emotional abuse. "Passive" examples are emotional and physical neglect....
"Further study will be needed to determine what treatments may be most effective for patients with a history of childhood maltreatment, but for now, these findings strongly suggest that all DSM diagnoses be accompanied by a specifier notation to indicate the presence of childhood maltreatment when it exists," Samson said, referring to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders. "It also suggests that studies of treatment outcome and correlates of psychopathology include childhood maltreatment as a factor."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-10-maltreatment-childhood-linked-severe-responsive.html
Teicher & Samson. (2013). "Childhood Maltreatment and Psychopathology: A Case for Ecophenotypic Variants as Clinically and Neurobiologically Distinct Subtypes." American J of Psychiatry. Abstract.
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