Reacting to abuse

Psychiatry Reborn: Biopsychosocial psychiatry in modern medicine ◽

10.1093/med/9780198789697.003.0013 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 207-212

Author(s):

Richard Holton

Keyword(s):

Childhood Abuse ◽

Memory Effect ◽

Delayed Gratification ◽

Abused Children ◽

Overgeneral Memory ◽

Abuse And Neglect ◽

The Way

This chapter assesses the effects of childhood abuse and neglect. It begins by discussing the ‘overgeneral memory effect’. This is the finding that abused children tend to forget many of the specific happenings in their childhoods. Reflection on it can perhaps help to shed some light on how memory, and its suppression, works. The chapter then draws some parallels with the findings on delayed gratification. It is striking that in both cases one finds a need to shut down certain sorts of thought; the therapeutic interest is in how and when one might get it going again. The chapter also poses a question about how much the effects of childhood abuse are mediated by the expectations of the subjects. Many have claimed, with some plausibility, that one finds such mediation in various psychological illnesses: that the way that subjects understand their own condition affects the symptoms that they display.

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Elder Abuse and Neglect in China: Prevalence, Co-occurrence, and Intergenerational Risk Factors

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260520985501 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 088626052098550

Author(s):

Mengtong Chen ◽

Ko Ling Chan

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Childhood Abuse ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Elder Abuse ◽

Elderly Parents ◽

Contextual Risk ◽

Elder Abuse And Neglect ◽

The Past ◽

Abuse And Neglect

The prevalence and patterns of elder abuse and neglect in China have been understudied. The objectives of this study were to examine the chronicity and prevalence of different patterns of elder abuse, and the influence of individual and contextual risk factors. We used data from a sample of 7,466 adults randomly recruited from six regions in China. The participants responded to a questionnaire about their demographic characteristics, childhood abuse experiences, and instances of abuse and neglect against their elderly parents. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association of elder abuse and neglect with individual and contextual factors. The results showed that one in 10 participants reported that their elderly parents had experienced abuse or neglect in the past year. The elder victims were reported to have suffered different types of abuse and neglect on multiple occasions, ranging from 3.6 to 11.82 times on average. More than 5% of participants reported that their elderly parents had suffered two or more types of abuse and neglect in the past year, accounting for 40% of the elderly victims. The co-occurrence of elder abuse within elderly couples was also high. Reports of abuse and neglect of elderly parents were related to low socioeconomic status, living in rural areas, and the experience of childhood abuse of the participants. This study supports the model of intergenerational transmission of violence in the Chinese population. The high prevalence, chronicity, and co-occurrence of elder abuse and neglect underline the importance of screening for risk factors, and have implications for preventive practice and policy.

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