Characteristics of depressed patients who report childhood sexual abuse

Objective: Depressed patients who had and had not been exposed to childhood sexual abuse were studied to determine differences in severity of depresse d mood, lifetime histories of anxiety and depression, childhood environment , and disordered personality function. Method: Data were obtained from 269 inpatients and outpatients with major depression (171 women and 98 men) by means of structured clinical interviews and self-report questionnaires. Res ults: Forty-six of the 269 patients reported childhood sexual abuse; 40 of these were women. These 40 women were compared with the 131 who did not rep ort childhood sexual abuse. The patients who experienced abuse did not diff er from those who had not on psychiatrist-rated mood severity estimates, bu t they did have higher self-report depression scores. They also evidenced m ore self-destructive behavior, more personality dysfunction, and more overa ll adversity in their childhood environment. Childhood sexual abuse status was associated with more borderline personality characteristics independent ly of other negative aspects of the patients' earlier parenting. Childhood sexual abuse status was linked strongly to adult self-destructiveness, as w as early exposure to maternal indifference. Conclusions: Multivariate analy ses suggest that depression is unlikely to be a direct consequence of child hood sexual abuse. Childhood sexual abuse appears to be associated with a g reater chance of having experienced a broadly dysfunctional childhood home environment, a greater chance of having a borderline personality style, and , in turn, a greater chance of experiencing depression in adulthood.