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Sunday Star Times
November 9, 1997
Child abuse and studies
by John Read,
Responses to my research into the possible link between schizophrenia and
child abuse (November 2) misunderstand the facts.
G Waugh argues that my work is unscientific. He simply does not want to
accept that 15 separate studies have documented that, on average, 64% of
female psychiatric inpatients have been abused as children.
What is "cruel, heartless and offensive" is not the publicising of
these figures but the abuse itself.
Ms Goode claims that it is "common" for psychiatric patients to
invent abuse. The research, however, shows that psychiatric patients are no
more likely than the rest of us to imagine or lie about abuse.
Her statement that years ago someone at this university suggested to her that
she was abused is a serious allegation as this would, indeed, be quite unprofessional.
Should she wish to furnish us with the details we will ensure it is properly investigated.
Although the Aotearoa Network of Psychiatric Survivors (representing the
patients themselves) and Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care (representing health
professionals closely involved in this field) have welcomed this research,
some are -- understandably -- not yet ready to face these distressing facts.
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COSA
Casualties of Sexual Allegations
Newsletter December 1997
Volume 4 No 10
A suggestion that schizophrenia is caused by sexual abuse
Recovered memory proponent John Read, Clinical Psychology Department,
Auckland University, pre-released to the media the findings of a paper he had
written suggesting that childhood abuse and schizophrenia might be causally
related. This created some media attention and Letters to the Editor. DSAC
President Selina Green wrote in praise of Dr Read’s
research which found that when asked, many schizophrenic patients reported
past sexual abuse. Drs Read and Green assumed that this means sexual abuse
causes schizophrenia, a flawed assumption.
While not denying that some schizophrenic patients will have been exposed to
sexual abuse in the past, it is wrong to infer that this is the cause of
their condition. Just because two things appear to occur together (have some
association) it cannot be concluded that there is a causal relationship. For
example: You are looking for the cause of nits in school children. You
examine a class and separate those with nits from those without. You find
that most of those with nits are wearing hair ties. You conclude that hair
ties can cause nits and that the way to get rid of nits is to stop wearing
hair ties. This is faulty logic. In fact, nits and hair ties are only associated
because both are more likely to occur in children who have long hair. Long
hair is called a confounding factor and in fact there is no causal
relationship between hair ties and nits.
Reports of past abuse are not the same as proven events. False reports may be
deliberate or the result of suggestive questioning. Furthermore, contrary to
Dr Read’s claims, people suffering from acute psychosis are more likely than
the average person to claim events that did not happen. Delusions and being
out of touch with reality are hallmarks of this condition. Workers dealing
with acutely psychotic people have long recognised that many such patients
have preoccupation with sex and may be prone to intense, often violent sexual
fantasies and make wild accusations. When they are well again, these patients
will often recognise that their allegations were about imaginary events.
Further, schizophrenic delusions are often influenced by what is considered
to be the enemy in contemporary society. During the McCarthy era in USA in the 1950s, many
people in psychiatric institutions believed they were being persecuted by
communist. Today they believe they are victims of sex offenders.
Far more women are sexually abused than men – According to Dr Read, about 30%
of women and 10% of men have been sexually abused. Yet schizophrenia affects
about 0.5% of the population, and women are not more likely to be affected
than men.
While causes of schizophrenia are unknown, evidence indicates that there may
be a number of components, including heredity, viral illness and birth
trauma. Claiming sexual abuse as a major cause unjustly blames distressed
families, who are often struggling to care for their ill family member.
References:
Sunday Star-Times (26 Oct 1997). ‘study links
mental illness to sex abuse’;
NZ Herald (22 Oct 1997). ‘Psychotic disorders linked to childhood abuses’)
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