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Childhood Sexual Abuse And Its Effects On Children Essay

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Childhood sexual abuse has long been researched for both its short-term and long-term effects on its victims. Sexual abuse is defined as any sexual act that is done on a child through coercion, and causes lasting psychological impact (Hall & Hall, 2011). Given the importance of psychological development throughout childhood, sexual abuse can hinder the mental health of its victims through the occurrence of other psychiatric disorders. While children should be growing into mentally healthy adults, with the choice of starting sexual experiences at their own pace, they are forcibly exposed to sexual experiences prematurely. This coerced subjection to sexual experiences has been linked to negative psychological effects such as depression, guilt and anxiety (Hall & Hall, 2011). Although sexual abuse is usually linked to multiple degrees of mental health effects, the developmental pathway of childhood sexual abuse is rarely researched on. When considering the effect on childhood development post-sexual abuse, it is important to highlight the possible underlying cause for the variety of psychological disorders child sexual abuse victims experience. In an article by the psychiatrist Scott Mendelson (2013), he suggests that stress is the primary cause of related mental health disorders. The damaging effect of high levels of cortisol is evident on the victim. When a child goes through sexual abuse, these cortisol levels are consistently high in reaction to the

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