ABSTRACT
Clinicians who assess and treat adolescents are increasingly informed by a burgeoning literature that attests to the link between present psychopathology and either current or earlier experiences of abuse or trauma. As a result of research efforts, largely since the mid-1980s, it is now possible to observe the multiple effects and pathways of different types of trauma and abusive experiences on a child's or adolescent's short-term adaptation in emotional, behavioral, cognitive and interpersonal areas (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986; Conte & Schuerman, 1988; Eth & Pynoss, 1985; Friedrich, 1988; Friedrich, Urquiza, & Beilke, 1986; Gomes-Schwartz, Horowitz, & Sauzier, 1985; Krystal, 1978; Mannarino & Cohen, 1986; Monane, Leichter, Otnow Lewis, 1984; Terr, 1991).
