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Abstract: 

There is a causal relationship between what happen to us as children and our overall health, both mental and physical, throughout our later life. This fact, which has come to be widely known and generally accepted, confi rms what the child abuse experts have warned about all along: that in order to become healthy adults, children must be nurtured and kept safe from abuse by responsible caretakers. This piece, drawn from the book Treating the Lifetime Health Effects of Childhood Victimization by Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, provides the sobering reality of what happens when such nurturing and safety are withheld from a child. As the author points out, the health-damaging effects of child abuse, neglect, and other types of trauma are severe and lifelong.

Keywords: National Violence Against Women Survey; Family violence related to a wide range of chronic diseases and conditions; ischemic heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, diabetes, skeletal fractures, and hepatitis; patterns of health

Affiliations:  1: psychologist.