Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of justice when it mattered most, that made it possible for evil to triumph.”

Haile Selassie

We often don’t believe a problem is significant, or even real, unless those who say so can provide impressive-sounding statistics to back up their allegations.

1. Each case of abuse, Physical, Emotional, Sexual and Neglect, creates trauma and mental health concerns.
2. One in four adults—approximately 57.7 million Americans—experience a mental health disorder in a given year¹
3. One in seventeen Americans live with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder and about one in ten children have a serious mental or emotional disorder.¹
4. Child Abuse in the U.S. occurs every 10 seconds.²
5. Four children die every day in the U.S. as the result of child abuse.²
6. Child abusers are generally members of the family or close trusted friends.²
7. For every case of child abuse reported, it is estimated that two go unreported²
8. Official government statistics do not indicate actual rates of child abuse, only the known cases. Most abused and neglected children never come to the attention of authorities.
9. One of every four girls and one of every six boys will have suffered some form of sexual abuse by their 18th birthday.³
10. In 2005, the most recent year for which the U.S. government has figures, 12.1 of every 1,000 American children, almost 900,000 in all, suffered abuse by adults with parents of victims accounting for almost 80 percent of the abusers³

These statistics are not all that can be said, but should be enough to alarm any human being. Every adult, teen and child has the right to a safe non-violent home. Everyone deserves safe and healthy relationships. One person has the power to change the lives of so many children. One small effort is all it takes. YOU have that power. YOU are that person.

References:
1 NAMI Fact Sheet, October 2007
2 Tennyson Center for Children Website-About Abuse
3 Child Abuse Statistics, Research and Resources, Jim Hopper, Ph.D.