Group therapy for survivors of childhood sexual abuse who have chronic mental illness.

Medication and supportive services are usually the approaches used to treat women with chronic mental illness (CMI). The goal of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of group therapy for women with CMI in comparison with those for women without CMI, all of whom experienced childhood sexual abuse. The sample ( N=121) consisted of women, all of whom were sexually abused as children. The results indicated that abused women with CMI had improved self-esteem and decreased symptom scores at the same rate as abused women without CMI. It was suggested that nurses can play an essential role in their practice with this population.