Can Sexual Abuse Cause Brain Injury?

It is strange how looking to help a client with a problem often leads to answers that can help a client with a very different problem.

I was doing some research for a client with a Minor Traumatic Brain when I came across an article in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.The article is titled: Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Neuropsychological and Cognitive Function in College Women.

The authors conducted neuropsychological tests on female students, and compared the results to tests conducted on female students who had been victims of sexual abuse. A strong association was found between the duration of the sexual abuse and memory impairments. The results of the study indicate that childhood sexual abuse appears to be associated with a constellation of neuropsychological deficits usually found in victims of M.T.B.I.

Those of us that represent victims of abuse often struggle with how to explain the effects of the abuse to a judge or jury.

This study provides us with another tool.

Read the whole article athttp://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/18/1/45