Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Sexually Abused Women

Abstract

PTSD secondary to sexual abuse is not an uncommon clinical entity. It exists, but the subjects do not generally feel free to talk about the stress that sexual abuse might cause them. Consequently the PTSD they suffer from goes unidentified. PTSD cased by sexual abuse is common in all age groups of women, the youngest subject on this study was 18 years old and the eldest was 62 years old. PTSD due to sexual abuse is common in the middle class women, but that may be because the set up in which the subjects were chosen from caters primarily to the middle class. PTSD is a coand#8208;morbidity rich disorder. There was not one case where PTSD existed on its own. PTSD was commonly comorbid with Depression, Anger, Impulsive and self destructive behaviour (characteristic of Borderline personality disorder). Sleep complaints, somatic complaints, pain disorders were also commonly found in women with PTSD. Sexual abuse was most common in the adolescent age group with the abuser always being older than the victim. The victims do not generally protest or confide to others, thereby causing the abuse to turn chronic. Abuse variables such as incest, high frequency of abuse, earlier age of abuse did not have a direct bearing to the illness severity or response to treatment. Subjects responded well in spite of and despite all types of abuse variables, provided they were treated adequately and appropriately. Pharmacological treatment was abuse had limited efficacy as subjects stopped responding to treatment after the initial few weeks of response. Among the psychotherapeutic measures available, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing were the most promising, with EMDR showing earlier and much quicker remission rates, as measured by all the available rating scales for PTSD. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY: Only the women who reported to the Department of Psychiatry, Madras Medical College were taken up for this study, thus decreasing the chances of studying the other general subjects.