DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
11/21/2005
The sexual abuse of children -- no matter who commits the crime -- can twist the lives of survivors and leave them with chronic psychological and physical problems, experts say. And when children are abused by a trusted person -- a parent, a teacher, a doctor, a minister -- the effects are compounded.
The secrecy, isolation, emotional manipulation, and mental, physical and spiritual anguish all take their toll.
Abuse by a parent is the hardest on kids, said Dr. Mark Borer, a Dover psychiatrist with almost 20 years of experience in treating victims, including children, adolescents and adults. Next-hardest is abuse from a special cadre of people.