Child & adolescent psychiatry and child sexual abuse.
8-10% of Swedish women have been subject to sexual abuse. The sexual abused child is in a difficult situation. She feels that she cannot tell anybody anything. She is surrounded by shame, difficulty to remember, fear of not being believed in, feeling of catastrophe ie. The primary task of child and adolescent psychiatry is to give the sexual abused child an opportunity to feel safe and to help her repairing the damages that might occurred. Child and adolescent psychiatry should also participate in the legal process of sexually abused children, because the possibilities of repairing the wounds caused by a sexual abuse depends upon the child's confirmation of its credibility. The child and adolescent psychiatric investigation should be kept between the limits that are allowed by the professional methods and not make statements on subjects we don't know just because the legal process wishes us to.
Bengtsson
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Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Umeå University Hospital, Sweden.
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013548:Sweden