Addiction

Maybe one of the greatest “secrets” of childhood sexual abuse is the far-reaching toll it takes on society.

Its cost is measured not only in broken lives – but also, debilitating expenses to our national economy, because one of the common affects of childhood sexual abuse is addiction and substance abuse later in life.

Addictions have reached crisis levels in the US:

Forbes.com reports the 5 most expensive – or “hard” addictions according to government health agencies are:

• alcohol
• smoking
• drugs
• over-eating
• gambling
  
  

This adds up to an estimated astounding cost to the US of $590 billion* annually in terms of treatment expense and loss of productivity.

Sex addiction, although it’s considered a serious problem, isn’t included in this figure, because no formal cost studies exist.

RAINN (the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network), reports victims of sexual assault are:

• 3 times more likely to suffer from depression.
• 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.
• 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
• 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide
  
  

Researchers from the Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital found that “…repeated sexual abuse during childhood causes physical changes in the brain, changes that can explain why abused children often develop substance abuse problems later in life.” (NIDA, the National Institute of Drug Abuse)

The carnage wrought by childhood sexual abuse affects us all.