This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Silberman, M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Silberman, M. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Sexual Abuse in Childhood and the Mentally Disordered Female Offender

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: silbermn{at}bucknell.edu.

	Abstract

This study examines the role that a history of child sexual abuse played in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders in a sample of 321 female offenders incarcerated in a maximum-security prison for women. The results show that a history of child sexual abuse increases the likelihood that an inmate would receive mental health treatment. Psychotropic medication is frequently prescribed in response to adjustment problems associated with childhood sexual abuse. White women who exhibit adjustment problems associated with a history of child sexual abuse are especially likely to be diagnosed as mentally disordered at admission and to be sent to the mental health unit for treatment. In the absence of a diagnosed mental disorder at admission, women who receive psychotropic medication to help them adjust to prison life are likely to be diagnosed with a mental disorder later on.

First published on June 25, 2009
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 2009, doi:10.1177/0306624X09340011


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?