<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/09/huge-proportion-of-mental-health-conditions-in-australia-found-to-be-caused-by-childhood-maltreatment>
"If child abuse and neglect did not exist, more than 1.8m cases of depression,
anxiety and substance use disorders in Australia – almost a quarter of the
total number – could be prevented.
The finding comes from the first Australian study to estimate the proportion of
mental health conditions which are directly caused by childhood maltreatment
and independent from other influences such as genetics and social environments.
Published on Thursday in the American Medical Association’s specialty journal
of psychiatry,
JAMA Psychiatry, the research led by the University of Sydney
found 41% of suicide attempts, 35% of self-harm and 21% of cases of depression
in Australia are caused by child maltreatment.
The researchers called for childhood abuse and neglect to be treated as a
national public health priority, with investment in preventive policies such as
paid parental leave, affordable childcare, or income support – all things which
evidence shows reduce instances of maltreatment."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
