Asking the Tough Questions to Address Child Maltreatment

Any child can experience abuse or neglect, and if these issues are not addressed, according to one expert, their health and well-being later in life will suffer.

Dr. Vincent Felitti shared his research Tuesday at the Child and Youth Behavioral Health Leadership Summit in Columbus. As author of a major study on adverse childhood experiences, Felitti said trauma can be caused by physical or emotional neglect, sexual abuse and exposure to alcoholism or depression. He said the short- and long-term outcomes of these exposures can mean a multitude of problems.

"Chronic emotional distress, chronic depression, suicidality, biomedical disease - specifically fractures, liver disease, osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer - social malfunction, violence," he said.