Child Sexual Abuse Article Analysis

Child Sexual Abuse Article Analysis

Article analyzed

Menon P, Chaudhari B, Saldanha D, Devabhaktuni S, Bhattacharya L. Childhood sexual abuse in adult patients with borderline personality disorder. Ind Psychiatry J 2016;25:101-6

Analysis

The article “Childhood sexual abuse in adult patients with a borderline personality disorder” by (Menon et al., 2016) is focused on finding how and why sexual abuse in children, or CSA, affect catalyze the advancement of borderline personality disorder (BPD). The article takes on a general view about BPD, very informative and not biased in any way. The authors’ choice of mode of conducting the study is commendable since the facts in the article are outlined very clearly. The authors’ sole purpose for writing this article is to find out if children who are sexually abused grow up to develop BPD in adulthood or as they grow older. To come to gather detailed analysis, the authors concentrate on ways children are abused, who abuse the children and for how long they are abused. The main population that is targeted in the article is the Indian population and specifically people leaving in Western Maharashtra, India. As the article states “this aspect of BPD psychopathology has been paid less attention in Indian patients population where there is a likelihood of a different social environment, culture, and family dynamics that interact to produce a fertile ground for the development of BPD” shows that the authors had an interest in basing their article on Indian population. The authors are all psychiatrists, and the study in the article is conducted by a psychiatry department in a medical school in India. The article is well articulated, and it does shed light on the issue in a thorough manner..

The study in the article is conducted on 36 people who suffer from BPD. It is done on people between 18 and 36 years of age. They are first interviewed by being asked questions concerning their childhoods, hardships and life experiences in general. Out of the 36 people, 16 of them reports that they had been sexually abused when they were children. This number constitutes 44% of the whole number of people used in the study.In the article, the authors states “CSA in earlier years of life is associated with BPD because traumatic experiences in this phase result in changes in neural networks and formation of traits resulting in a persistent and pervasive pattern of personality disorder” which means that a child put through child abuse is more likely to acquire traits that alter his or her thinking as he or she grows. This,as they put it results in development of other tendencies, characteristics and other coping mechanisms which, when combined, leads to personality disorder or BPD. Teenagers, however, as opposed to children, react differently when subjected to the same conditions. They rarely show any signs of BPD in their adulthood. The author has categorically stated that only children, teenagers being exempted, subjected to sexual abuse or abuse, in general, grow up to develop this personality disorder.

There are different types of sexual abuse. The authors have gone ahead to establish which one is directly related to BPD. In the article, these forms of child sexual abuse are divided into three categories. The first one is non-genital CSA which involves the act of doing things like kissing or hugging sexually without interfering with the victim’s sexual organs.The second one is genital CSA, that consists in fondling and touching private parts of a victim sexually. The third one as per the article is intercourse that requires penetration of victim’s parts by a perpetrator. The findings of these three types of sexual abuse to children show that when a child is exposed to the number three type of sexual abuse, he or she is more likely to develop BPD that when exposed to number two and number one on the list. Chances of developing BPD increase also when a child is exposed to number three sexual abuse by a person he or she is closely related like a relative or a close family friend. There is a divergence in the results of this study with other findings especially in the United States and other countries like Russia and the United Kingdom which as per the article is due to the difference in the social and family structure of the Indian community

In the article, CSA has been noted to give rise to several BPD symptoms in adulthood. According to the study, patients with this disorder present themselves with symptoms of recurrentsuicidal, identity disturbances,paranoia related to stress and troubled interpersonal relationships. These symptoms if not found in the early stages, can have detrimental effects on a patients’ mental and physical well-being. Some patients have even committed suicide due to that feeling of stigmatization within society.

In the article, the authors agree that the study has some limitations.First, the findings, according to the authors, are based on retrospective childhood sexual harassments. There is also reporting biases due to willful forgetting, repressed memories, denial due to guilt or shame and false reporting by the respondents. The study also does not include other child abuse, including neglect, physical abuse, and unconducive family environment, which also contribute to the development of BPD.This gives an eye open to any reader to not entirely rely on this article and such for alternatives of the same topic and compare the findings. This enables the reader to acquire information that is not biased in any way.

The article then concludes by highlighting that detection of CSA is a difficulty due to several factors. Among these factors include stigma, secrecy and shame that come with being associated with CSA. Therefore the authors urge other clinicians to handle patients with BPD with a lot of care to offer the right environment. This, according to them, will make the patients have the will to share their symptoms and past experiences and as a result, the clinicians can offer the right treatment. The authors also try to convince those that have gone through CSA to come out from their hiding places and seek help urgently before their conditions escalate.

Conclusion

The article itself is well written, and it has fulfilled its objective, conducted a well-organized study, and given conclusive findings shows that the authors were not biased in any way and there was no conflict of interest whatsoever.The article also clearly states that the result is not conclusive showing the readers that they should not dwell on the results a 100% but seek alternatives and make a comparison before making any conclusions.