Australia's leading childhood trauma support and advocacy group has proposed improved training for health professionals as part of recommendations to reduce the cost of untreated childhood suffering.
A report commissioned by Adults Surviving Child Abuse found that the economic impact of unresolved childhood trauma in Australian adults was $9.1 billion annually.
ASCA president Dr Cathy Kezelman said the figure was conservative and the real cost for Australia's estimated five million adult survivors of childhood trauma could be much higher.
The research, by Pegasus Economics and to be released on Wednesday, looked at four main symptoms of childhood trauma: alcohol abuse, mental illness, obesity and suicide or attempted suicide.
"There is a potential enormous saving if we start to actively intervene in trauma, rather than just addressing the symptoms," Dr Kezelman said.
The research forms part of an ASCA submission to the federal government before the May budget.
[For more of this story, written by Rachel Browne, go to http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/repo...20150203-134ozc.html]
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