Therefore, the influence of the human and social sciences upon legal doctrine is far from neutral. Definitions of sex abuse have been changing. These issues are far from resolved. These discrepancies in definition became a matter for governmental concern in England in 1995 when it was reported that research found that one in six adults claimed to have suffered sexual abuse in childhood. Against this claim were others asserting that too narrow a definition of abuse works against children's rights.
Psychiatry provides a further insight into the problematic knowledge claims of the human sciences.
The DSM III manual notes that trauma must be an event which lies outside the normal pattern of human experience and which would clearly cause suffering in virtually anyone. That meant trauma would require a social interpretation such that there was agreement about what exactly constitutes 'suffering in virtually everyone'. Even if that personal interpretation was free floating, in order to count as 'sex abuse' it must still align itself with the categories provided in the manual. That provides the same outcome as the DSM III in the sense that the categories in the manual govern what can be said. In the case of either the DSM III or the DSM IV, we would be dealing with a memory.