Premium
Child sexual abuse ‐ the problem for medical practitioners in small towns
Author(s) -
Roper Peter C
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1991.tb121085.x
Subject(s) - citation , sexual abuse , library science , psychology , medicine , computer science , poison control , suicide prevention , medical emergency
T he sexual abuse of children provokes a strong react ion amongst all members of our society the public, police, doctors and other professionals so that we all have difficult y in understanding and coping with the problem and the issues it creates. In rural areas, where there is a lack of resources to aid professionals in recognition and management, these problems are magnifi ed. Child sexual abuse was first descr ibed in the French medicolegal literature by Tardieu in 1860. Sigmund Freud studied under Tardieu in 1885, and when he published The aetiology of hysteria in 1896, acknowledged the truth about the sexual assault of young children .' When this initial view was rejected by his colleag ues in Vienna, Freud reworked his theory into one 01 sexual fantasies and unmet desires causing hysterical featu res in his female pat ients. Child sexual abuse was ignored until 1978 , when Kempe revealed the problem ;' since then articles on the topic have burgeoned in the medical literature. The evidence published in the literature is mounting that the consequences of sexual v ictimisation 01children are far reaching in our society, and that the incidence is high." Mental health