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Childhood Sexual Abuse Left Untreated Can Contribute to

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Childhood Sexual Abuse Left Untreated Can Contribute To
Juvenile Delinquency and Psychological Disorders.

Every year thousands of children are abused. This abuse can be physical, emotional or sexual in nature. All forms of abuse are wrong, all forms of abuse are harmful, but childhood sexual abuse can cause major emotional and physical harm in our adolescents. Before we can properly treat these victims we must first have a solid grasp of how and why sexual abuse occurs, the typical effects of the abuse and how the abuse changes the child's stages of development. In recent years a great deal of interest has been placed on delinquent behavior and the causes that contribute to it. Media blames music, movies, games, and videos, but …show more content…

Retrieved, 5/15/05 from www.nospank.net. Studies have also shown the Nueroendocrine System is elevated in sexually abused children, this system engages in a back and forth dance to control the bodies psychology by continuously increasing or decreasing the activity of various neurotransmitters and hormones. Therefore stressful events disrupts the dance and upsets the delicate balance resulting in the Sympathetic Nervous System activating; in short the abused child or adolescent is unable to control their psyche. DeBellis & Baum, et.al, (1999) Putnam & Trickett, (1997). With these types of physical changes it can lead us to believe that delinquent behavior in adolescents is more of a physical problem opposed to a behavioral problem caused by their environment or violent stimulation. In review of case studies in adult CSA survivors I found the results intriguing as well as disturbing. In one case a 79-year-old black woman residing in a nursing home who was abused physically and sexually by both grandparents as a child; reported feeling of unhappiness, sleeping disorders, poor appetite, disorientation, fatigue, and not being
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able to maintain personal hygiene. At 79 she sought counseling after the death of her husband and realized the root to her problems stemmed from the abuse she suffered as a child. In another case a 20 year old who was sexually abused by her grandmother and uncle developed a disassociate disorder. She blocked out the

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