Traumatized individuals frequently develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a disorder in which the memory of the traumatic event comes to dominate the victims’ consciousness, depleting their lives of meaning and pleasure.1 Trauma docs not only affect psychological functioning: for example,

a study of almost 10 000 patients in a medical setting2 reported that persons with Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical histories of severe child maltreatment showed a 4 to 12 times greater risk for developing alcoholism, depression, drug abuse, and suicide attempts, a 2 to 4 times greater risk for smoking, >50 sex partners, and sexually transmitted disease, a 1.4 to 1.6 times greater risk for physical inactivity and obesity, and a 1.6 to 2.9 times greater risk for ischemic heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal fractures, hepatitis, stroke, diabetes, and liver disease. Prevalence Traumatic events are very common in most societies, though prevalence has been best studied in industrialized societies, particularly in the USA. Kessler et al3 found that in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the USA at least 15% of the population reported to have been molested, physically attacked, raped, or been involved in combat. Men are physically assaulted more often than women (11.1% vs 10.3%), while women report higher Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical rates of sexual assault (7.3% vs 1.3%). Half of all victims of violence in the US are under age 25; 29% of all forcible

rapes occur before the age of eleven. Among US adolescents aged 12 to 17, 8% are estimated to have been victims of selleck serious sexual assault; 17% victims of serious Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical physical assault; and 40% have witnessed serious violence.4 Twenty-two percent of rapes are perpetrated by strangers, whereas Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical husbands and boyfriends are responsible for 19%, and other relatives account for 38%. Men sustain twice as many severe

injuries than women do. For women and children, but not for men, trauma that results from violence within intimate relationships is a much more serious problem than traumatic events inflicted by strangers or accidents: in 1994, 62% of the almost 3 million attacks on women in the USA were by persons whom they knew, while 63% of the almost 4 million assaults on males were by strangers. Four out of five assaults on children are at the hands of their own parents. Over a third of the victims of domestic assault experienced Thalidomide serious injury, compared with a quarter of victims of stranger assault.5 This illustrates that an assault by someone “known” is not less serious than assault by a stranger. Domestic abuse and child abuse are closely related: in homes where spousal abuse occurs, children are abused at a rate 1500% higher than the national average (National Victim Center, 1993)6 . Many people experience horrendous events without seeming to develop lasting effects of their traumatization.