Assessing and treating victims of violence

Recent research has shown that a significant proportion of North American children are sexually, physically, or psychologically abused each year, and that the number of reports of adult rape, spousal abuse, and physical assault by strangers continues to grow. Beyond the epidemiology of societal violence per se is its impact on the mental health of those who live in our culture. Scientists and clinicians are beginning to trace the genesis of a number of psychological symptoms and disorders to childhood or adult traumatic events, many of which involve interpersonal violence. As a result, a new specialty of mental health practitioners has evolved, one specifically concerned with the assessment and treatment of psychological trauma. At the same time, however, the typical front-line clinician is bound to encounter children and adults who have been victimized and who present with complex post-traumatic sequelae. It is for the trauma specialist and the general clinician that this issue of New Directions for Mental Health Services was developed. Although the subject matter of this issue is disturbing, growing assessment and treatment technology gives us new hope for treating victims of violence.