The role of stigmatization in developing post-traumatic symptoms after experiencing child sexual abuse by a female perpetrator

Schröder, Johanna; Kratzer, Leonhard; Yamak, Yasemin; Briken, Peer; Tozdan, Safiye

doi:10.1080/20008198.2021.1966982

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Gender sensitivity is under-recognized in procedures involving children [37]. Professionals should be aware of the adverse effects of victim blaming and internalized stigma on post-traumatic symptoms [38]. The report by lawyer Rainer Bohm "Caution Youth Welfare Office: Child Welfare Endangerment" of February 10, 2021, shows as an example what effects the use of the standard child welfare endangerment by youth welfare offices can have.…”

Section: The Power Of the Youth Officementioning

confidence: 99%

Taking Into Care - In The Child's Best Interest? The German Youth Welfare Office is under criticism from the European Parliament

Holzheimer,

Ballhorn

2023

Int J Family Med Healthcare

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Introduction: The number of children taken into care by German youth welfare offices has been increasing for years as a result of changes in the law according to publicly known endangerments to child welfare. Due to an increase in petitions from non-German parents to the European Parliament's Petitions Committee against administrative acts that they felt to be arbitrary (e.g. taking into care), the European Parliament repeatedly (2007, 2018, 2022, 2023) dealt with the processes in the German Youth Welfare Office. Material and Methods: Compilation of the documents of the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament in 2007, 2018, 2022, and 2023 on the German Youth Welfare Office. Additional searches in Pubmed, google scholar, and google under the keywords child welfare, the best interest of the child, damage to health through taking into care, harm to children through taking into care, the impact of financial threats to parents to youth welfare, psychological trauma through taking into care by the youth welfare office. Reproduction of the essential questions of the member European Parliament (MEPs) and answers of German authorities and family courts. Structure in: The principle “In the best children’s interest” and “child wellbeing (welfare)”, legal duties of the youth office, taking into care by youth office, the power of youth office, relationship court youth office, control of the German youth office, costs of the proceedings, guardian ad litem, duties and functions of the court. The answers of the German authorities are summarized in the respective sections, supplemented by relevant literature and personal communications. Results: For years, the German youth welfare office has been criticized for either failing to protect the welfare of the child or protecting it too late. Over the past 20 years or so, changes in the law have led to increasing numbers of childcare takings based on undefined norms of the child's best interests and child welfare. In short: the guardian state is increasingly intervening in the family, which is protected by Article 6 of the Basic Law, with the unclear justification that the parents are overburdened or lacking (proof of) the ability to bring up children, precisely regarding Article 6 invoking the guardian state, and is separating parents from their children without having sufficient scientific knowledge about the consequences of taking the children into care. The families receive high bills for this, disregarding proportionality and exclusion criteria. The possibility of changing something by complaining is small. The responsible community decides on the complaint itself. Transparency is reduced with the exclusion of the public and the rejection of requests to inspect files. This led to the expressed suspicion of arbitrary measures and an increase in petitions to the European Petitions Committee, which has been dealing with the youth welfare office since 2007 and even came to Germany for a "fact-finding visit" in 2022. The questions from the MEPs on the above areas were partly answered incompletely or not at all or contradicted the literature and the evidence. The answers of the German community of responsibility prompted the MEPs to ask further questions (Amendments 2023). Conclusion: It cannot be denied that the answers of the youth welfare office were not very convincing for the MEPs of the petition committee, taking into account the scientific literature and known documents. The lack of transparency (e.g., refusal to inspect files) and agreements reinforced the MEPs' negative impression of the youth welfare office (shadow body, where there is smoke, there is fire), and led to the announcement of further controls by the MEPs.

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Section: The Power Of the Youth Officementioning

confidence: 99%

Taking Into Care - In The Child's Best Interest? The German Youth Welfare Office is under criticism from the European Parliament

Holzheimer,

Ballhorn

2023

Int J Family Med Healthcare

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“…Bonfils et al ( 2018 ) found that people with PTSD and schizophrenia reported similar levels of self-stigma and that self-stigma is also associated with PTSD and comorbid symptoms in people with PTSD. Moreover, it was found that self-stigma was associated with PTSD symptoms in child sexual abuse survivors, implying that stigma is a potentially important factor in the development and maintenance of psychopathology in traumatized populations (Schröder et al, 2021 ). Similarly, in a cross-sectional study, Lewis et al ( 2022 ) indicated that the prevalence of self-stigma was 41.2% in people with PTSD and that self-stigma was associated with lower income and more mental health symptoms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-stigma predicts post-traumatic and depressive symptoms in traumatized individuals seeking interventions for dissociative symptoms: a preliminary investigation

Fung,

Černis,

Shum

2023

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background: Previous studies showed that self-stigma is associated with poor clinical outcomes in people with serious mental illness, and is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, less is known about self-stigma in people with dissociative symptoms, which are often related to psychological trauma. This study examined whether baseline self-stigma would be associated with dissociative, PTSD and depressive symptoms at post-intervention, after controlling for treatment usage and baseline symptom severity, in a sample of traumatized Chinese adults undertaking a psychoeducation intervention for dissociative symptoms. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a 60-day web-based psychoeducation programme. A total of 58 participants who provided data before and after the intervention were included for analysis. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Results: In this highly traumatized, dissociative, and symptomatic help-seeking sample, baseline self-stigma was associated with PTSD (β = .203, p = .032) and depressive (β = .264, p = .025) symptoms at post-intervention, even after controlling for baseline symptom severity, age, location, number of sessions attended in the web-based psychoeducation programme, and use of psychological treatments for PTSD/dissociative symptoms. However, self-stigma was not associated with dissociative symptoms ( p = .108). Conclusions: This is the first study showing that self-stigma is a significant predictor of comorbid symptoms (i.e. PTSD and depressive symptoms) in people seeking interventions for dissociative symptoms. The findings that post-traumatic and dissociative symptoms have different relationships to self-stigma also highlight the possibility dissociation might be an independent psychological construct closely associated with trauma, but not merely a PTSD symptom, although further studies are necessary. The preliminary findings call for more efforts to understand, prevent, and address self-stigma in people with trauma-related mental health issues such as dissociative symptoms.

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“…One intriguing avenue worth investigating centres on self-stigma – the internalization of societal prejudices or negative stereotypes about one's own identity or experiences, instilling shame, embarrassment, and self-blame (Corrigan & Rao, 2012 ; Link et al, 2002 ). Recent research has shown self-stigma to be associated with both CM experiences (Schomerus et al, 2021 ; Schröder et al, 2021 ) and various forms of psychopathology (Du et al, 2023 ; Dubreucq et al, 2021 ), providing initial evidence for the important role it may play in the development of diverse mental health outcomes among survivors of CM. Studies investigating the self-stigma-CM association indicate that individuals who have experienced CM may hold negative, self-stigmatizing beliefs, such as feeling like ‘a bad person because of the maltreatment’, believing that ‘the abuse or neglect was their fault’, or thinking that they ‘will always end up in abusive relationships’ (Kennedy & Prock, 2018 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The link between self-stigma and psychopathology is well-established, implicating self-stigma as a significant factor in various psychiatric disorders (Dubreucq et al, 2021 ; Hofmann et al, 2023 ). Specifically, self-stigma is associated with symptom chronicity, severity, and limited remission across schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, psychosis (Outcalt & Lysaker, 2012 ; Van Zelst, 2009 ), mood disorders (Hofmann et al, 2023 ), and PTSD (Schröder et al, 2021 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, research that examined the interplay between CM, self-stigma, and trauma-related psychopathology is relatively scarce. To our knowledge, one study that did explore all three concepts found that internalized/self-stigma fully mediated the detrimental effect of victim-blaming on PTSD symptom severity (Schröder et al, 2021 ). However, this important study exclusively addressed PTSD and did not explore other trauma-related symptoms such as depression and anxiety.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-stigma mediates the relationships between childhood maltreatment and symptom levels of PTSD, depression, and anxiety

Haim-Nachum,

Lazarov,

Zabag

et al. 2024

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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The role of stigmatization in developing post-traumatic symptoms after experiencing child sexual abuse by a female perpetrator

Cited by 7 publications

References 44 publications

Taking Into Care - In The Child's Best Interest? The German Youth Welfare Office is under criticism from the European Parliament

Taking Into Care - In The Child's Best Interest? The German Youth Welfare Office is under criticism from the European Parliament

Self-stigma predicts post-traumatic and depressive symptoms in traumatized individuals seeking interventions for dissociative symptoms: a preliminary investigation

Self-stigma mediates the relationships between childhood maltreatment and symptom levels of PTSD, depression, and anxiety

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