A 2018 Report in THE LANCET
Occasionally, I read essays in journals and newspapers, especially those articles I can relate to my own experiences. I will alert you, my Rag Dolls and Rage blog readers, of things I find relevant pertaining to assaults or bullying. You may know someone who would find the information useful.
Based in the U.K., THE LANCET is one of the most prestigious and well-known medical journals in the world. Last year, the journal reported on a study’s conclusions regarding mental disorders occurring after sexual assaults in adolescents.
The study included questionnaires and meetings with victims. Many of the interviewees were disadvantaged; i.e., were from poverty-stricken areas or else were disabled in some way. It was found that an overwhelming majority of the girls that had been sexually assaulted, continue to suffer devastating mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder many months after the incidents. Some teenagers self-harmed via substance use or suicide attempts after the attacks, or after resulting pregnancies or STDs.
This, in my opinion, means these teenagers will need a lot of time to regain some semblance of a normal life. However, due to austerity measures over some years in the U.K., many young people there are not getting the medical help they need from the National Health Service (NHS) or other organizations.
I hope that this report, one of the few geared specifically towards such issues pertaining to adolescents, will successfully move the government towards actions needed to, first, combat such vulnerability of certain demographics, and, second, to fund medical help for victims of sexual crimes.
If you wish to read THE LANCET report, you can find it here (you may need to paste it to your browser):
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancah/article/PIIS2352-4642(18)30202-5/fulltext
The specs are:
THE LANCET Child and Adolescent Health
ARTICLES| VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9, P654-665, SEPTEMBER 01, 2018
Mental and sexual health outcomes following sexual assault in adolescents: a prospective cohort study
Sophie Khadr, MD
Venetia Clarke, MSc
Prof Kaye Wellings, FAcSS
Laia Villalta, MD
Andrea Goddard, FRCPH
Prof Jan Welch, FRCP
et al.
Published: July 18, 2018
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