Soul Murder

I saw 39 women and 104 men in the course of 100 weeks. 95% of the patients were black. Reviewing my records, I see that all 39 of the women reported emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; of the 104 men, 13 suffered all three kinds of abuse, while 91 suffered only physical and emotional but not sexual abuse.

From my experience, the most destructive form of abuse is sexual, because of the betrayal and devastating confusion over who is friend, who foe. Many patients during a first visit, despite my probing inquiry (no relative? not a grandfather? no mom's lover? no neighbour? no babysitter? no priest or preacher? no teacher?) deny sexual abuse, but admit to it later. I have found that it is for good reason that sexual abuse of children has been termed “soul murder”

Victoria Lewin-Fetter writes in The Lancet

The article she responded to was mainly about the child abuse in high-income countries. It says the official figures of child maltreatment of these countries are only one tenth of the reality. (please have a look at the article to know various forms of child abuse). What' more! A recent study is able to identify a gene in the brain (hippocampus- a region known to control mood) that is marked in people who were abused as a child and committed suicide as an adult. It is NOT confirmed but the researchers suspect a history of child abuse predisposes suicide in adults (genetically). If so, its murder ? And not just of the soul.

Shall we pause and ask about our very own country? Let me gather some information.