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Abuse leads to depression
01/01/2007 19:46 - (SA)
Chicago - Physically abused and neglected
children are much more likely to grow into severely depressed
adults, a finding that researchers said on Monday points to an
urgent need to test abused children for depression early on.
Physically abused children have a 59% increased risk
of lifetime major depression compared with similar children who
were not abused, said the study in this month's issue of the
Archives of General Psychiatry.
Earlier studies had linked childhood abuse with serious
depression but researchers said this study is the first to show
that depression is a consequence of the abuse.
"These results underscore the need to detect and treat the
long-term psychological (effects) of childhood neglect," wrote
lead researcher Cathy Spatz Widom, who was with the New Jersey
Medical School in Newark when she worked on the study.
Researchers compared about 680 children who were abused and
neglected before the age of 11 with 520 children of similar
age, race, sex, and social status. Both groups were followed
into young adulthood, up to an average age of 29.
Children who were physically abused, neglected or both had
as much as a 75% higher risk of suffering major
depression as adults.
"In addition, these findings reveal that onset of
depression began in childhood for many of the children," the
report said.
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