ON BEING INVISIBLE IN THE MENTAL-HEALTH SYSTEM

The author provides a case study of her daughter's sexual abuse as a c hild and subsequent experiences as a chronically mentally ill client i n the mental health system. Information from 17 years of mental health records and anecdotal accounts are used to illustrate the effects of the abuse, her attempts to reach out for help, and the system's failur e to respond. There is evidence that a significant subset of psychiatr ic patients were severely sexually traumatized in childhood. Yet stand ard interview schedules consistently neglect to ask questions about su ch abuse, appropriate treatment is seldom available, and clients are o ften retraumatized by current practices. Psychiatry's historic resista nce to addressing abuse as etiology is being challenged today by power ful economic, political, and professional forces leading to the emerge nce of a new trauma-based paradigm.