Trauma-Related Disorders: Sexual Abuse and Psychiatric Comorbidities

Trauma occurs when a subject happens to be exposed to death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence; historical studies raised much interest on the persistent role of past traumatic experiences on people’s current lives. Confrontation with trauma results in the release of important neurochemical factors, capable of compromising subjective integrative capacity and the ordinary process of neurodevelopment. DSM-5 classifies trauma- and stressor-related disorders in a specific chapter that includes the reactive attachment disorder, the disinhibited social engagement disorder, acute stress disorder, the adjustment disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder.