Sexual and physical abuse of chronically ill psychiatric outpatients compared with a matched sample of medical outpatients

Because there are few controlled studies, we aimed to determine the prevale nce of sexual and physical abuse reported by psychiatric outpatients compar ed with matched controls. The sample consisted of 158 outpatients with majo r mental disorders including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder who respond ed to a semi-structured interview (response rate = 64.8%) and who were indi vidually matched for gender, age, and ethnicity with 158 outpatients who ha d never been treated for psychiatric illness. They unanswered questions abo ut whether and when they had ever been sexually or physically abused, and a bout the type and circumstances of abuse. Abuse was more common during adul thood (16 years or older); 45 psychiatric patients (28.5%) were sexually ab used and 43 (27.3%) were physically abused. Compared with the controls, pat ients were significantly more Likely to report a history of sexual or physi cal abuse during adulthood (chi(2) = 5.15, df = 1, p =.02; chi(2) = 4.09, d f = 1, p = .04 respectively). During adulthood, female patients were signif icantly more likely to be sexually and physically abused than male patients , and those sexually abused were significantly more likely to report a hist ory of sexual abuse during childhood. However, patients were not significan tly more likely to report a history of sexual or physical abuse during chil dhood compared with the controls. These findings demonstrate that psychiatr ically ill patients are vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse during adul thood and underscore psychiatrists' responsibility to routinely inquire abo ut abuse experiences.