Quote From: rashalDear Dr. Phil,
I think you dropped the ball on your December 18, 2007 show of the daughter who tried to murder her father in his sleep by bashing his head in with a hammer. The most obvious and common source of that kind of rage is childhood sexual abuse (CSA) - which, incidentally, is the single greatest indicator for incarceration for a violent crime. Although the subject was brought up briefly, you steered the conversation completely away from this and even offered other explanations about what was going on depression, stress, alcoholism all of which are common symptoms of CSA. You pride yourself on asking the tough questions and being honest, and yet you deftly avoided the real smoking gun in this family.
You thereby missed a perfect opportunity to shed light on a topic that is so pervasive in our country and yet is so unacknowledged. Sexual abuse of children is a harsh fact of life in our society. It is more common than most people realize. Some surveys say at least 1 out of 5 adult women and 1 out of 10 adult men report having been sexually abused in childhood.
(http://www.medem.com/MedLB/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZ1LW3YA7C&sub_cat=348 )
People seem afraid to even talk about CSA, and even more disturbing is the fact that there are so few professionals who know how to treat patients who have been abused. Despite this, more and more adults are speaking out about their own histories of abuse.
In any event, I think you should have a show about CSA and how it impacts peoples lives in the most profound ways imaginable. To this end, I have a friend you might want to consult and/or interview. She is Julie Motz whom you may know of because of her book, Hands of Life, and her pioneering work of non-traditional healing in the operating room. Observing the levels of CSA in heart transplant and breast cancer patients, she decided to make it the focus of her lifes work. She lectures and teaches workshops nationally on subjects ranging from sexual wounding to depression, eating disorders and inter-generational healing. But whatever the subject, she has told me, sexual abuse comes up over and over again as a pressing and pervasive issue.
Here are just a few of some of the more disturbing statistics of CSA:
It is estimated that there are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America today.
Source: Forward, 1993.
Approximately 31% of women in prison state that they had been abused as children.
Source: United States Department of Justice, 1991.
Approximately 95% of teenage prostitutes have been sexually abused.
Source: CCPCA, 1992.
It is estimated that children with disabilities are 4 to 10 times more vulnerable to sexual abuse than their non-disabled peers.
Source: National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse, 1992.
Long term effects of child abuse include fear, anxiety, depression, anger, hostility, inappropriate sexual behavior, poor self esteem, tendency toward substance abuse and difficulty with close relationships.
Source: Browne & Finkelhor, 1986.
Clinical findings of adult victims of sexual abuse include problems in interpersonal relationships associated with an underlying mistrust. Generally, adult victims of incest have a severely strained relationship with their parents that is marked by feelings of mistrust, fear, ambivalence, hatred, and betrayal. These feelings may extend to all family members.
Source: Tsai and Wagner, 1978.
Young girls who are forced to have sex are three times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders or abuse alcohol and drugs in adulthood, than girls who are not sexually abused. Sexual abuse was also more strongly linked with substance abuse than with psychiatric disorders. It was also suggested that sexual abuse may lead some girls to become sexually active at an earlier age and seek out older boyfriends who might, in turn, introduce them to drugs. Psychiatric disorders were from 2.6 to 3.3 times more common among women whose CSA included intercourse, and the risk of substance abuse was increased more than fourfold, according to the results. Family factors -- parental education, parenting behavior, family financial status, church attendance -- had little impact on the prevalence of psychiatric or substance abuse disorders among these women, the investigators observe. Similarly, parental psychopathology did not predict the association between CSA and later psychopathology.
Source: Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., et al, Medical College of Virginia Commonwealth University, Archives of General Psychiatry 2000;57:953-959.
Also see review at Medscape
Among both adolescent girls and boys, a history of sexual or physical abuse appears to increase the risk of disordered eating behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting or use of laxatives to avoid gaining weight. Among those at increased risk for disordered eating were respondents who had experienced sexual or physical abuse and those who gave low ratings to family communication, parental caring and parental expectations. In light of these findings, the researchers conclude that "strong familial relationships may decrease the risk for disordered eating among youth reporting abuse experiences."
Source: Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, et al, University of Minneapolis, International Journal of Eating Disorders 2000;28:249-258.
Young girls who are sexually abused are more likely to develop eating disorders as adolescents. The findings also add to a growing body of research suggesting that trauma in childhood increases the risk of developing an eating disorder. Abused girls were more dissatisfied with their weight and more likely to diet and purge their food by vomiting or using laxatives and diuretics. Abused girls were also more likely to restrict their eating when they were bored or emotionally upset. Wonderlich suggests that abused girls might experience higher levels of emotional distress, possibly linked to their abuse, and have trouble coping. Food restriction and perhaps other eating disorder behaviors may (reflect) efforts to cope with such experiences. The report also indicates that while girls who were abused were less likely to exhibit perfectionist tendencies (such as making extreme efforts to avoid disappointing others and a need to be 'the best'), they tended to want thinner bodies than girls who had not been abused.
Source: Stephen A. Wonderlich, M.D., et al, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Fargo, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2000;391277-1283.
Sincerely,
Sarah J. Link
please don't be so quick to judge this family....you don't know them. They have 6 kids of their own and at one yime had 8 foster children as well. He is a respected police officer in our community and [f his daughter was abused it most certainly was not by him!
Little girls are often the apple of their parents' eye, but what happens when these sweet, innocent daughters grow up to become dangerous young women? Dr. Phil's guests say their daughters are on destructive paths to nowhere. Krista, 22, was a beauty queen who went from wearing a tiara to walking the streets. She will beg, borrow and steal to get money to support her drug habit. She says if she doesn't get help, she will die, but you won't believe what happened after the Dr. Phil cameras left her house! Her mother, Janet, says after two overdoses and four trips to rehab, the family is beginning to lose hope that Krista can be saved. Find out what Dr. Phil tells Krista she must do in order to turn her life around. Then, Beverly and Gil's 26-year-old daughter, Barbara, brutally attacked Gil with a hammer while he slept. Why do they believe Barbara's ex-girlfriend, Corrina, is to blame for the attack? They say Barbara showed no signs of violence before the beating, but did they miss the warnings? Corrina says she has no idea what made Barbara snap, and she wants to clear her name. Barbara's sister and brother weigh in. Why do they also say Corrina is responsible? And, hear what Barbara has to say from behind bars. Join the discussion.
