Child physical abuse observed: comparison of families with and without history of child abuse treated in an in-patient family unit

Article Abstract:

Despite a vast literature as testimony to its study, child abuse is poorly understood. The ability to take diagnostic evaluations and develop an effective treatment program for family change has proven elusive. Where attempts have been made, only a 40 percent success rate has been reported, despite trials of several different interventions. In an effort to better understand families who abuse their children, comparisons were made between 27 families, seven of which had a confirmed history of child physical abuse (CA), seven of which had a suspected history (SA), and 13 of which had no history of child physical abuse (NA). A 129-item questionnaire was completed on each family covering various aspects of the family's problems and demographics. Information was gathered from the families themselves, treatment professionals, and other families living in close proximity in the hospital. While the families were admitted for a variety of problems, the families in the abuse groups were similar in that mothers tended to be younger than those in the nonabusive families, to be without a partner, and to be using multiple agencies. They were more likely to have been abused as children themselves. Mothers who denied child physical abuse but were suspected of it (SA group) tended to have a history of poor relationships and to develop poor relationships with professionals during treatment. These families also did worse in treatment than CA and NA families, and they tended to leave treatment earlier. The CA families reported better lifelong relationships than the SA families. CA and SA group families tended to lack normal parental relationships as well, sometimes persisting over several generations. The data confirm the suggestion by other research that families who acknowledge the presence of child abuse have a better prognosis, as do families whose mothers have a history of good relationships with others. Fathers were not focussed on due to their small numbers in the sample. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Prognosis, Child abuse, Abused children, Family

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Folie a trois among two Soviet-Jewish immigrant families to Israel

Article Abstract:

Folie a trois (madness for three) is a rare disorder characterized by the shared paranoid delusions of three individuals. Two case reports of folie a trois in two different Russian-Jewish families who had immigrated to Israel in the 1970s are presented. In the first, a 45-year-old single man, living with his elderly parents, was hospitalized after attacking a psychiatrist. He believed that he and his family were being terrorized by his mother's sister. His parents supported his claim, and his mother insisted that her sister was an Israeli agent plotting to kill her son. His mother had been born in a Russian ghetto and at age seven, had witnessed the beheading of her father during the 1919 Civil War. The patient's father was a passive man, who always felt persecuted because he was Jewish. The family led an isolated life, had no friends, and survived on social security. Treatment with antipsychotic medication and separation from his family had no effect on the son's paranoid belief system. In the second case, a Russian-Jewish 39-year-old single woman still living with her parents claimed that a neighbor was pouring poison gas into their apartment. Both parents supported her claim. She was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, and treated with antipsychotic medication. After she was hospitalized several times, her family moved to a new apartment, but believed that the neighbor had tracked them down and was poisoning them again. Her father had lost his first wife and two children when their home was bombed during World War II. Both her mother and father had suffered a great deal of persecution while living in Russia. The development of folie a trois in these families appears to have been related to past hardships, social isolation, and dependent family relations. Both families seemed unable to adjust to a society in which they were free of hostility and persecution. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Case studies, Jews, Immigrants, Paranoid disorders, Paranoia, Paranoid personality disorder, Jewish persecution, Persecution

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Suicide among adolescents in Greece

Article Abstract:

The rate of suicide increases significantly during adolescence and the overall rate among young people has been reportedly increasing in many countries. In some countries, however, the rate has leveled in certain subgroups. Boys tend to outnumber girls in the statistics on completed suicides at a rate of at least 2:1 in most countries. The present study was designed to determine the suicide rate for adolescents aged 10 to 19 years in Greece, to examine the causes and relative risk among subgroups, and to compare the findings with those of other countries. The years studied were 1980 to 1987, during which 3,044 cases of completed suicide were reported. Of the total, 118 were adolescents. Of the 118, 66 were boys and 52 were girls, an insignificant difference, yielding an overall rate of suicide per 100,000 adolescents of 1.07 for boys and 0.89 for girls. Age 16 was the most frequent age for girls to commit suicide in the sample. The peak for boys was between the ages of 17 and 19. The combined rate of suicide in rural areas was greater than in urban areas and girls committed suicide significantly more often in rural areas than in urban areas. There was no significant difference between the rates of suicide for boys in urban and rural areas, although in numbers, more boys committed suicide in rural areas. Of the 118 suicides carried out, 61 of the children were students, 21 were working, and 36 were not students and were unemployed. Most often, suicide was related to psychiatric disorder, but strained relationships and family problems were also significant factors. Relatively, the rate of suicide among Greek adolescents is not high. In particular, urban Greeks seem to be most protected. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Greece, Suicide, Teenagers, Youth, Adolescence

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