Child sex abuse and schizophrenia risk

Being sexually abused as a child is a risk factor for psychosis and schizophrenia. Researchers from Monash University in Australia studied 7,697 people, 2,759 of whom had - according to police and medical records - been sexuall abused as children. They found that over a 30-year period people who had suffered child abuse had double the rate of psychosis (2.8% vs 1.4%) and nearly treble the rate of schizophrenia (1.9% vs 0.7%). Those who had suffered penetration of an orifice by another person or an object were at an even greater risk of psychosis and schizophrenia - 3.4% and 2.4% respectively.