On 14 January, the Daily Telegraph published its latest investigation into sexual assault in the British army.
Danielle Sheridan, the paper’s defence editor, reported: ‘Hundreds of female members of the Armed Forces who accused their colleagues of rape were “misdiagnosed” with having a personality disorder.’
The women were medically discharged after seeking help for sexual assault and being ‘written off’ with emotionally unstable personality disorder.
Sheridan quoted Paula Edwards, the chief executive of Salute Her UK, a charity for female military personnel who have experienced sexual assault and rape. Edwards said that victims were being ‘overdiagnosed and misdiagnosed’ so that the military can ‘get rid of the problem’.
Sheridan also spoke to lawyer Ahmed Al-Nahhas who said that, in his experience, there was a trend that could amount to ‘clinical negligence’: ‘women in the military who have suffered sexual assault get steered towards a diagnosis of personality disorder’.