One in four children experiences trauma before reaching adulthood

Rawalpindi :The Institute of Psychiatry and World Health Organisation Collaboration Centre at Benazir Bhutto Hospital organised a workshop on the topic of Child Sex Abuse entitled ‘My Body Belongs to Me’ here at St. Mary’s School Rawalpindi as one of the series of the campaign ‘Unkahi’, which is an initiative to raise awareness about the menace of child abuse.
The workshop depicted the harmonious team work of the faculty members of Psychiatry in partnership with colleagues from Community Medicine Department of Rawalpindi Medical College. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Head of the Child Psychiatry Unit Dr. Ayesha Minhas and Consultant Institute of Psychiatry Dr. Bushra Razzaque were the main facilitators, along with Dr. Hania Amin, Dr. Sundus Fatima, Dr. Yousaf Raza and Dr. Muneeba Faisal who contributed as co-facilitators. The audience included the staff and faculty of St. Mary’s school.
Principal of St. Mary’s School Asif Gill initiated the seminar by welcoming the team from the Institute. He then handed the stage over to the guest speakers. Dr. Yousaf started by thanking the audience and reciting a few verses from the Holy Quran. He then handed the podium to Dr Ayesha Minhas who proceeded with the programme.
She started with an expression of thanks to the participants for showing an interest in the workshop, and attributed their interest to the experience of trauma at some point in everybody’s lives. She then continued with World Health Organisation’s definition of child maltreatment: ‘Child maltreatment, sometimes referred to as child abuse and neglect, includes all forms of physical and emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and exploitation that results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, development or dignity. Within this broad definition, five subtypes can be distinguished– physical abuse; sexual abuse; neglect and negligent treatment;

emotional abuse; and exploitation, she explained.
She shared that one in four children experience a significant traumatic event before reaching adulthood, which shows that a huge population is living with trauma which remains unnoticed and that child sex abuse is still underreported as a consequence of the stigma attached to it.
She then spoke about the evolution of the docudrama on Child Sex Abuse, ‘Un-Kahi’, which gained impetus after the tragic incident of Kasoor in which hundreds of children were filmed for pornographic purposes.
The docudrama was then shown to the audience. It highlighted the lack of awareness and high occurrence of Child Sex Abuse in our society and that around one-third of such a horrendous crime is committed by close blood relation. The disturbing images of the event are imprinted in the child’s brain and they might continue to disturb them throughout their life in the form of flashbacks. The importance of dealing with this issue as a collective approach was emphasized since the responsibility of such incidences lies on the whole community, said Dr. Aysha Minhas.
Dr. Bushra discussed Sexual Development and Behavior in Children. She elaborated the differences between normal and abnormal sexual behaviours. The presentation depicted the normal age-appropriate sexual behaviours in four age groups including 0-2 years, 2-6 years, 7-12 years and adolescence respectively.
For preschool children it is normal that they are not conscious of covering themselves in front of others. As they age they develop this weariness and are careful with respect to their clothing. It would also be considered normal that children touch themselves, she explained. However, if the frequency of such acts increases or if an older child is engaging a younger child in such activities, these would be considered abnormal, she said.
Dr. Bushra then raised the issue of sex education. The audience shared their experiences as to how misinforming children led to adverse consequences. She said that the child should not be snubbed or ignored when they raise such questions. Rather, when they ask questions the opportunity should be used to inform children appropriately.
Dr. Ayesha Minhas concluded the workshop by thanking the attendees with a hope of taking this forward further with a commitment to gather again to cover further dimensions of the topic particularly an elaboration upon the preventive measures.