BACKGROUND One of the core postulated features of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is extreme emotional reactivity to a wide array of evocative stimuli. Findings from previous experimental research however are mixed, and some theories suggest specificity of hyper emotional responses, as being related to abuse, rejection and abandonment only. OBJECTIVE The current experiment examines the ...

CONTEXT The majority of prior studies examining intimate partner abuse in the emergency department (ED) setting have been conducted in large, urban tertiary care settings and may not reflect the experiences of women seen at community hospital EDs, which treat the majority of ED patients in the United States. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of intimate partner abuse among female patients...

BACKGROUND Childhood trauma has been reported as a possible cause of future substance abuse in some countries. This study reports the prevalence of childhood trauma and examines its association with psychological distress among injecting drug users from mainland China. METHODOLOGY The study was conducted in three government-operated drug rehabilitation facilities in Shanghai, China in 2007. T...

OBJECTIVES Childhood maltreatment is a robust risk factor for poor physical and mental health. Child welfare youths represent a high-risk group, given the greater likelihood of severe or multiple types of maltreatment. This study examined the relationship between childhood maltreatment and self-compassion - a concept of positive acceptance of self. While not applied previously to a child welfar...

Theorists have long thought that negative experiences in childhood (e.g., abuse) may contribute to the development of psychopathology in adolescence and adulthood [e.g., Beck, 1967; Bowlby, 1973, 1980]. More recently, they have hypothesized that different types of childhood abuse may contribute specific vulnerability to certain forms of psychopathology. Specifically, theorists have suggested th...

BACKGROUND Postpartum depression (PPD) has detrimental consequences to the women, their infants and families. The aim of the present study was to assess the association between adult abuse and PPD. METHODS This study was based on data from 53,065 pregnant women in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Women were recruited th...

BACKGROUND Accumulating evidence indicates that stress impairs sleep quality. Few studies, however, have examined the extent to which early life stress can jeopardize sleep in adulthood. PURPOSE Guided by a life course epidemiological perspective on health, this study examined associations between childhood abuse and adult sleep problems. METHODS We used data from 835 respondents in the Nat...

a r t i c l e i n f o This study examined 1) the prevalence of childhood emotional abuse retrospectively recalled by child welfare personnel, and 2) the relationship between emotional abuse and three measures of current well-being. Child welfare agency staff (n = 253) completed the emotional abuse subscale of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, as well as published scales measuring self-esteem,...