Single mothers are more likely than married mothers to have suffered abuse when they were children, new study results suggest. What's more, single mothers also tend to have lower incomes and are more likely to have psychiatric problems, such as anxiety or depression, compared with their married counterparts.
The study authors also point out that all women who had been abused -- married or not -- were more likely to suffer psychiatric problems as adults.
In the survey of 1,471 mothers in Ontario, Canada, investigators found that single women reported suffering severe child abuse nearly twice as often as married women.
Almost half of single mothers were poor, compared with less than 10% of married mothers. And anxiety and depression were more common among single mothers. The associations remained regardless of the women's age, income or education.
The findings suggest that doctors need to ask women who are anxious or depressed if they suffered abuse as children. And doctors should be aware of the high prevalence of childhood abuse among single mothers. Mental health treatment, the researchers note, may be effective when there is a history of abuse.
American Journal of Psychiatry 2001;158:73-77
Most of the patients I have lost quite a bit of their health. Most of these patients have had an previous event in their life which emotionally traumatized them and caused them to have very significant physical problems.
Unfortunately for them most traditional physicians do not recognize this association and they are told there is nothing wrong with them. Even if this issue is recognized though traditional approaches are relatively ineffective at resolving this issue.
Spiritual resources seem to the most potent approach and prayer is particularly effective.
In our office we use a technique developed by Dr. Klinghardt called APN. I would strongly recommend any health care clinician to attend the muscle testing worskhop in Seattle this March.
Dr. Klinghardt will be offering his courses later this year and for those of you reading this who are clinicians you might want to consider attending. You can view dates and charges for his course at a link I will put up shortly. Registration for the course is not yet possible but I will highlight that in a few weeks.