In the current study we sought, first, to distinguish associations with health arising from types of trauma as indicated by betrayal trauma theory (Freyd, 1996, 2001), and, second, to investigate the impact of disclosing a trauma history in survey form and/or writing essays about betrayal traumas. We recruited 99 community adults reporting at least 12 months of chronic medical illness or pain, ...

BACKGROUND A report of loss of consciousness (LOC) is frequently considered reason enough to obtain a computed tomography (CT) scan in the evaluation of head trauma. We conducted this study to reduce exposure to radiation from CT, while still not overlooking clinically significant injuries. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study is to determine the correlation between LOC status and brain CT sc...

OBJECTIVE Research on the etiology of dissociation in adults has focused primarily on childhood sexual abuse. The role of co-occurring childhood stressors and of more chronic adverse conditions such as neglect is less clear. This study examined the level of dissociation in relation to childhood trauma (sexual/physical abuse, witnessing interparental violence), early separation from a parent, an...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of abuse history, other major trauma, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on medical symptoms and health-related daily functioning in women with chronic pelvic pain. METHODS We administered a questionnaire to 713 consecutive women seen in a referral-based pelvic pain clinic. RESULTS We found that 46.8% reported having either a sexual or physical abuse hi...

Tonic immobility is a basic defense strategy which has not been studied in depth in humans. Data suggest that it may be a relatively frequent phenomenon in victims of rape and sexual abuse, but its occurrence has not been systematically explored in other types of trauma. We carried out a retrospective study in a sample of 100 university students to establish whether tonic immobility varies depe...

BACKGROUND Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common life-threatening complication of major trauma. Although clinical guidelines clearly suggest routine VTE prevention with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) in this specific group of patients, there is still a lack of strong recommendations regarding the timing and the modality of heparin administration and the role of mechanical prophylaxis. W...

CONTEXT The legal and social sequelae of interpreting genital findings as indicative of sexual abuse are significant. While the absence of genital trauma does not rule out sexual abuse, the physical examination can identify genital findings compatible with sexual abuse. OBJECTIVES To determine the diagnostic utility of the genital examination in prepubertal girls for identifying nonacute sexu...