By Sourav Sanyal, Times of India What follows is not fiction. Read on... A reluctant Payal is 'dragged' to a city-based psychiatrist by her husband Sharat. Married for over eight months, they are yet to have conjugal relationship. "Sure" of his wife being "mad", Sharat brings Payal for counselling. Embarrassment writ large on his face, he tells the doctor that whenever he has tried "being close", Payal has reacted "violently, for no reason whatsoever". A few counselling sessions later, the initially-stiff Payal breaks down. She confesses to have being sexually abused by her father, when she was yet to step into her teens. "Since then, I can't trust any man," she says, trying to regain her lost composure. And Payal is not alone. Though many like her continue to suffer in the 'comforts of home', few parents recognising the gravity of the situation, have started coming forward and seeking medical assistance. In most cases, the child is found to have been abused by a near relative.A child, who is not treated early, can develop into a schizophrenic. Or a paranoid personality, who is otherwise apparently normal. Someone who could later develop into another Payal. Mental health experts are unanimous in saying that the number of sexual abuse cases, which report to the hospitals, represent the "tip of the iceberg". "The denial is so strong that in spite of knowing the facts, parents try to hush up the whole matter for fear of social uproar and humiliation. The traumatised child,who should be provided with an emotional cushion, is reprimanded instead. Parents cannot possibly fathom the immense harm that they end up doing to the child in the process," notes a senior faculty of PGI's Psychiatry department. Dr Sudha Jain of Chandigarh Nueropsychiatry Centre echoes his thoughts. "Sexual abuse is quite common and in most cases the child is abused by someone she trusts, someone very close to the family. However, only a fraction of the cases come to the fore while others continue to suffer. Such children can never develop into healthy adults and grow up to become insecure personalities, who being unable to trust others around, start acting suspicious. Instead of trying to brush the matter beneath the carpet, parents should approach trained counsellors and make her forget the trauma she has undergone," she says. Leafing through pages of history, a General Hospital doctor says, "Though the incidence of sexual abuse is most prevalent among girls, boys too are not spared. Few years back, a 12-year old Nepalese boy admitted in the hospital was allegedly taken out of the ward by two men and sodomised. Incidence of abuse leaves a devastating effect on the child's psyche and marital discords are common as a normal sexual act becomes a highly traumatic experience."