Child sex abuse hysteria and the Ellis case
	Focus on People - Hall of Fame
	The wisdom of Gordon Waugh - Index
	www.peterellis.co.nz October 9, 2002 Response to Read and Katene by Gordon Waugh, Whenuapai Dr Read's petulant, distasteful ad hominem attack and the misguided comments by Kaylene Katene, (Refer below) ignore the facts about mental illness. There is no known causal link between childhood sexual abuse and any specific psychiatric or psychological condition. When they do occur, the effects of sexual abuse are idiosyncratic and unpredictable. It is impossible to distinguish between the effects of the conditions that abused children typically live in, such as poverty, serial parenting, alcohol abuse, physical abuse and neglect, and those related to sexual abuse. Despite Dr Read's assumptions and beliefs, mental illness occurs in adults with no history of child maltreatment. The aetiology of mental disorders is clearly multi-factorial, encompassing both biological and environmental components. While childhood abuse may be a risk factor for the subsequent development of mental disorders in some adults, it cannot be established that it caused the mental illness. Uncorroborated reports of abuse are notoriously unreliable. Asking psychiatric patients about abuse histories invites inaccurate responses. Deciding treatment on the basis of unverified abuse histories is unscientific and naïve. A little fact-finding, and a lot less assumption, belief and ideology, would better serve their needs. New Zealand Herald October 9, 2002 Mental Health Week by John Read How depressing, but unsurprising, to readers of his many previous contributions about abuse issues that Gordon Waugh should, in Mental Health Awareness Week, describe users of mental health services as "abnormal, irrational, unreliable". He manages to capture in one letter nearly all the stereotypes of "mental patients" which New Zealand's Like Minds destigmatisation campaign is working so hard to challenge. His regurgitation of the old myth that when distressed people tell us about awful events in their childhoods they should not be believed is particularly sad. The World Federation for Mental Health has chosen as its theme for the week The Effects of Violence and Trauma on Children. New Zealand's Mental Health Foundation is doing a wonderful job of explaining that because the seeds of later mental health problems are so often sewn in childhood they can indeed be prevented. One more reason that the Government needs to invest taxpayers' money in the early years of life and to assist struggling families rather than provide only "ambulances at the bottom of the cliff". New Zealand Herald October 9, 2002 Mental Health Week by Kayleen Katene Acting Chief Executive Mental Health Foundation The World Federation for Mental Health acknowledges the importance of the effects of trauma and violence (including sexual abuse) on children and adolescents on their mental health to the extent that it has declared this as its worldwide theme for Mental Health Awareness Week. It is ironic that in this week Gordon Waugh should contest so vehemently the wisdom of training mental health professionals to ask skilful and sensitive questions about childhood trauma and abuse as a routine part of mental health assessments. There is a significant body of international research which links childhood neglect, trauma and abuse (physical, emotional and sexual) to mental illness in later life. (This is not the same as saying that all people with mental illness have been abused.) Dr John Read's key point is that much of what we call mental illness is preventable. The better we treat our children and the more adequately we resource abuse-prevention programmes and child-protection services, the fewer the people who will have mental health problems in the future. Those who have experienced childhood trauma and abuse which results in mental health problems in later life surely deserve the best and most appropriate assessment and treatment rather than a lifelong psychiatric label. In addition, the people whom Mr Waugh describes as patients in psychiatric care surely deserve much better than his stigmatising and stereotypical description of them.    Coping with this skewed perception of mental illness can be more difficult for people than coping with the illness itself.