title: Disclosures of sexual abuse: what do you do next?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sexual abuse, especially in childhood, often has severe and long-lasting clinical consequences, both physical and psychological.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article outlines an approach to use when patients disclose a history of sexual abuse, and provides some resources to call on in those circumstances.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This article addresses questions one might ask to uncover a history of sexual abuse, possible responses to disclosures of sexual abuse, and documentation of these disclosures.
authors.affiliation: MB, BCH, BAO, FRACGP, DCH, Senior General Practitioner, Gippsland Lakes Community Health, and Senior Medical Educator, Southern General Practice Training, Lakes Entrance, VIC.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kinsella
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uebergang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology*; D014342:Truth Disclosure / Q000941:ethics*