The invisible scars of emotional abuse: a common and highly harmful form of childhood maltreatment

BMC Psychiatry

Ivan Figueira¹  Liliane Maria Pereira Vilete¹  Mauro Vitor Mendlowicz²  Eliane Volchan³  Raquel Menezes Gonçalves⁴  Leticia de Oliveira⁴  Liana Catarina Lima Portugal⁴  Camila Monteiro Fabricio Gama⁴  Sérgio de Souza Junior⁴  Mirtes Garcia Pereira⁴  Isabel Antunes David⁴ 

[1] Laboratório Integrado de Pesquisa em Estresse, Instituto de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av Venceslau Bras 71, 22290-140, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;Laboratório Integrado de Pesquisa em Estresse, Instituto de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av Venceslau Bras 71, 22290-140, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;Departamento de Psiquiatria e Saúde Mental, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brazil;Laboratório de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373, 21941-902, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;Laboratório de Neurofisiologia do Comportamento (LABNEC), Departamento de Fisiologia e Farmacologia, Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brazil;

关键词: Childhood maltreatment;    Emotional abuse;    Posttraumatic stress disorder;    Revictimization;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-021-03134-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundChildhood maltreatment (CM) is unfortunately widespread globally and has been linked with an increased risk of a variety of psychiatric disorders in adults, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These associations are well established in the literature for some maltreatment forms, such as sexual and physical abuse. However, the effects of emotional maltreatment are much less explored, even though this type figures among the most common forms of childhood maltreatment. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the impact of each type of childhood maltreatment, both individually and conjointly, on revictimization and PTSD symptom severity using a nonclinical college student sample.MethodsFive hundred and two graduate and undergraduate students participated in the study by completing questionnaires assessing lifetime traumatic experiences in general, maltreatment during childhood and PTSD symptoms. Bivariate and multivariate negative binomial regressions were applied to examine the associations among childhood maltreatment, revictimization, and PTSD symptom severity.ResultsOur results showed that using bivariate models, all types of CM were significantly associated with revictimization and PTSD symptom severity. Multivariate models showed that emotional abuse was the type of maltreatment associated with the highest incidence rates of revictimization and PTSD symptom severity.ConclusionsThese data provide additional evidence of the harmful effects of childhood maltreatment and its long-term consequences for individuals’ mental health. Notably, the findings highlight the importance of studying the impacts of emotional abuse, which seems to be a highly prevalent, understudied, and chronic form of maltreatment that is as toxic as other maltreatment forms.

【 授权许可】

CC BY