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tim/survivors of incest, rape and domestic violence. The book explored the experiences of these women within a social context, likening their trauma to that experienced by soldiers of war. Herman proposed a recovery program involving a reconnection within the wider community and provided a model by which mental health practitioners, as well as society itself, might view subsequent trauma and the recovery process experienced by victims. Trauma and Recovery was hailed as a groundbreaking contribution to understanding the experiences of women survivors of violence. It was hoped that it would pave the way for a new way of thinking about the impact that violence has on the mental health of victim/survivors. Throughout the 1990s, other research undertaken in both the United States and the United Kingdom has consistently provided evi-dence of the link between sexual assault and mental health.1 Notwithstanding the research evidence, mental health practitioners and policy makers have generally been slow to recognise the extent to which child sexual abuse and abuse in adulthood impacts on mental health, and slow to provide services to vic-tim/survivors of sexual assault suffering from mental ill-health. This article provides a brief overview of the current literature linking mental health and sexual assault. Included is literature that considers the link between abuse and subsequent mental ill-health, as well a