What are the treatments for the injury?

Child protective services monitor sexual abuse cases. Sexually abused children and their families need professional evaluation and treatment. Child and adolescent psychiatrists can help abused children regain a sense of self-esteem. They can help them cope with their feelings of guilt about the abuse and begin the process of overcoming the trauma. Individual psychotherapy and group counseling may help. Much of the healing for many survivors takes place in a support group of other survivors. There is strength, comfort, and hope in hearing the stories of others who share their pain.

Antidepressant medicines may be tried, but they are not usually as successful in treating depression in children as they are in adolescents and adults.

The child should be checked for sexually transmitted diseases. Girls of childbearing age should be tested for pregnancy.

What are the side effects of the treatments?

Antidepressant medicines may cause mild and usually temporary side effects in some people. The most common side effects are:

A person on antidepressant medicines needs to have blood levels monitored frequently.

What happens after treatment for the injury?

Long-term effects can include posttraumatic stress disorder. Although this nervous disorder can have many causes, in this case it is a result of physical, mental, or sexual violence. The victim may have the following conditions:

Children who have been sexually abused usually develop low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness, and an abnormal perspective on sexuality. They may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults and attempt suicide. Some sexually abused children become child abusers or prostitutes in later years. They are more at risk of abusing alcohol or other drugs to dull the pain.

A person who has been sexually abused may need years of psychotherapy to come to terms with what has happened. Therapy is most often long-term. It can be difficult for an adult to come to terms with sexual abuse that occurred when he or she was a child. It may result in changes in the abused person's life. In some cases, divorce results when a spouse can't live with a partner's pain and becomes frustrated at not being able to do anything about it.