Self-blaming abused linked to PTSD

A Spanish researcher says self-blaming abuse victims are more likely to resort to avoidance coping — behaviors that prevent confronting a problem.

Canton Cortes of the University of Granada in Spain and colleagues at the University of Cambridge in England says aspects of avoidance coping behavior — sleeping more than usual, avoiding thinking about the problem, or resorting to alcohol and drug abuse — were also more likely found in victims of child sexual abuse who blamed their family for not protecting them from the abuse.

The findings, scheduled to be published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, associated greater psychological after-effects with an avoidance coping strategy, a sense of guilt as well as feelings caused by sexual abuse.

«The results may be useful for the clinical treatment of victims of child abuse, since it allows the identification of three intervention areas extremely valuable, both for their impact on adjustment and because they can be modified,» Cortes said in a statement.

Cortes linked the three behaviors and the psychological after-effects to a greater likelihood of victims showing more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

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