Introduction: Child maltreatment is a well-known condition that is currently considered to be associated with the development of severe psychiatric conditions. Consequently, the authors decided to review the current literature in order to give a complete scenario of the situation in the world and to give recommendations about prevention and treatment as well as research goals.
Methods: An electronic search was conducted through the means of MEDLINE database in order to find the most up to date peer-reviewed papers, including only those papers published in 2015.
Results: 15 papers were included and analyzed the current situation in different countries: US (n.3), Australia (n.2), Ireland (n.2), Israel (n.2), China (n.2), Indonesia (n.1), Pakistan (n.1) and Norway (n.1).
Discussion: Even though sexual abuse has been studied extensively, both physical and emotional abuse and neglect appear to be more represented within the population of patients that had suffered from abuse. Psychiatric disorders (mainly personality disorders, depression and anxiety), interpersonal, social and legal outcomes are important consequences of child maltreatment.
Conclusions: Interventions and strategies are needed at different levels, from prevention to treatment and further research is important in order to better understand the phenomenon.