Psychological Abuse

What is child abuse? From the word “abuse” we can understand that it is some sort of a maltreatment of a child, causing harm and damage both to his physical and psychological well-being. At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) describes child abuse and neglect as: “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” Child abuse is a very substantial and widely spread problem in U.S. affecting children of any age, gender, race, background or income, with more than 1.8 million investigations done every year and on average, killing more than 5 children every day. The main issue of child abuse is that the abuser is usually someone a child loves or depends on (a parent, sibling, coach, neighbor, etc.), who violates child’s trust putting personal interests first, therefore official numbers of how many children suffer maltreatment might be not accurate enough as remarkable amount of these cases go unreported. Each case of child abuse is unique, with a lot of individual factors involved, nevertheless, we can distinguish some of the common causes, such as poverty, lack of education, depression, mental or physical health

What is emotional abuse? According to Trickett et al, emotional abuse is defined as, “…act or omissions, other than physical abuse or sexual abuse, that caused, or could have caused, conduct, cognitive, affective, or other mental disorders. Psychological or emotional maltreatment frequently occurs as verbal abuse or excessive demands on a child’s performance” (2011). Loue expounds on the terms used interchangeably by stating, “Emotional abuse, a label often used synonymously with the terms emotional maltreatment, psychological battering, psychological abuse, and soul murder…” (2005). Loue further indicates that emotional abuse has also been called, “…the most elusive and damaging of all types of child abuse and neglect” (2005). Emotional abuse should be recognized as a heinous crime. Children who suffer from this type of abuse may not be as resilient as they are when suffering other forms of abuse. Although emotional abuse does not leave a visible scar for those who look upon the victim, it does leave an indelible scar that will not affect the victim for years to come if the victim

The safety and security of many children across the world are in danger due to physical abuse. Child abuse has been linked to an assortment of changes in the brain which result in psychological, behavioral, and academic problems. While it is unclear whether the population that had been maltreated as children is accurate, physical maltreatment in the first 5 years of life places a child at risk for a variety of psychological and behavioral problems during adolescence. The following three literature reviews attempts to prove and support the premise.

The effects of trauma can be looked at into two separate categories however, they both are interrelated: neurodevelopment and psychosocial development. From the onset of birth, we are born with 100 billion neurons, much more than we will ever need and much more than we will ever have. Between these neurons, trillions of synapses are created. Depending upon the early life experiences in relation to attachments with caregivers and our environment, some synapses will be strengthened whilst others will be discarded.

Two factors correlating mental health and child development are abuse and neglect. All forms of abuse from physical, sexual, and emotional have a great impact on the consciousness of a child. Due to the damage abuse causes in their psychological development, children express themselves through their emotions and behavior (Mondal & Das, 2014). The physical aspect is the first thing that comes to mind when we come across the word abuse. It does not only stop at the visible scars and bruises, children can also be abused emotionally. Naturally, a child gravitates their biological mother, when the love and nurturing is absent and instead the void

Emotional abuse is one of the most common forms of child abuse. When it comes to children emotional abuse includes encouraging children to develop self-destructive behavior, behavior that is threatening or likely to place the child or the child’s loved ones in danger, excessive, aggressive or unreasonable demands in which place expectations on a child that a child cannot meet, and ignoring a child’s attempt to interact. Emotional abuse in a child also includes the failure to provide the proper nurturing necessary for a child’s psychological growth and development. Terrorizing is the most common form of emotional abuse recognized in the case files, with nearly 81.1 percent of emotionally abuse children suffering from it. 63 percent of the emotionally abused children have experienced physical abuse and

There are significant signs of psychological trauma due to any kind of abuse. Children experience feelings of low self esteem and depression. Many exhibit behavioral problems including aggression towards other children. Other emotional problems include hostility, fear, humiliation and the inability to express feelings. The social impacts of physical abuse include inability to form relationships, poor social skills, poor cognitive language skills, distrust of others, over-compliance with authority figures, and tendency to solve interpersonal problems with aggression. (2008, p. 1). Verbal and physical abuse has a cumulative impact on children’s socialization. Abused children are caught in damaged relationships and are not socialized in positive, supportive way (Craig & Dunn, Ex.: 2010, p. 196). They learn defiance, manipulation and other problem behaviors that are used to escape any maltreatment. In turn they will learn to exploit, degrade and terrorize.

Victimization comes in many different forms such as assault, child physical/sexual abuse, stalking, theft, rape, sexual harassment, and domestic/relationship violence. There are several negative outcomes that have been linked with childhood abuse and neglect such as neurobiological changes, emotional and psychiatric disorders, interpersonal issues and substance abuse problems (Min, Singer, Minnes, Kim, & Short, 2012). According to Reid and Sullivan (2009), children and adolescents are very vulnerable and are the most highly victimized individuals of the population and the kinds of victimization that they experience can come in many forms (Finkelhor et al., 2009). This victimization is known as poly-victimization (Finkelhor et al., 2009).

Child maltreatment has been a serious public health problem not just in the United States but globally. Maltreatment is defined as neglect which means failure to provide for a child’s basic physical, educational, or psychological needs. Physical abuse such as causing physical harm, sexual abuse, abuse that includes fondling a child’s genitals or breasts, and psychological abuse, such as verbal put-downs and other behavior that terrorizes, threatens, rejects or isolates the child. “According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), in 2007 approximately 794,000 children (10.6 per 1,000 children of all ages) were identified as victims of child abuse or neglect. Approximately one-half (46.1%) of all victims were non-Hispanic white, 21.7% were African American, and 20.8% were Hispanic. One-third (31.9%) were under the age of 4 years.” (Gross, 2010)

Childhood emotional abuse (CEA) appears to be more novel in the research world in comparison to physical and sexual abuse. However, with the research that has been conducted, there are clear suggestions that CEA has similar, if not more severe, consequences to childhood physical abuse (CPA) and childhood sexual abuse (CSA) (Gibb, Chelminski, & Zimmerman, 2007). For instance, research by Gibb and associates (2007) found that participants who reported experiencing CEA were more likely to also have major depressive disorder and social phobia, than those who reported experiencing CPA or CSA. The research by Gibb et al. suggests that CEA may be more detrimental than CPA or CSA to the psychological development of a child. However, what is missing

However, all forms of child abuse carry emotional consequences because the child's psychological and emotional development inevitably suffers from all forms of abuse. An intervention model that would focus on emotional abuse could also focus on preventing other forms of abuse because violent behavior towards children often comes from the same underlying causes, and most risk factors for child maltreatment are associated with caregiver, family, and environmental factors (McDonald, 2007). With this in mind, a possible solution would have to include early detection, but the intervention would most likely focus on factors that cause all types of child abuse. Despite the widespread occurrences of all forms of abuse, emotional neglect or maltreatment are practically impossible to detect while they occur and impair the child's normal development and social integration. Emotional abuse includes includes verbal, mental, and psychological maltreatment of children, and it is frequently overlooked by the community and mental health professionals who do not define emotional abuse as a suitable factor for diagnostic purposes (as cited in Schneider, Baumrind, & Kimerling, 2007). In reality, emotional abuse is frequently used in many families, it occurs in several worldwide cultures, and it carries significant consequences that should not be overlooked.

Every year, child abuse and neglect affect more than one million children nation-wide (Currie and Tekin 1). Along with this, child abuse is the source of severe injury to more than 500,000 children and the death of over 1,500 children (Currie and Tekin 1). These outrageously large numbers reveal the extent to which child abuse and neglect impact society; however, they do not acknowledge the effect abuse can have on a child’s life and the repercussions that may occur in both the individual’s childhood and adulthood. While the effects most certainly include physical pain and possibly future disabilities, child abuse and neglect can also affects the child’s psychological welfare. Psychological effects are often more difficult to recognize,

Psychological abuse is part of the verbal assault, because whenever the abuser communicates something it eventually will affect her reasoning, in order to control the victim. Furthermore, physical abuse is frequently used too. My friend’s relationship with her boyfriend, who also studies at Lindenwood, is complicated because their relation is toxic. She is a joyful person, always happy but sometimes, when she has fought with her partner, her day turns grey, and full of sadness. Their relationship has been on and off for years. She has tried to leave him but it has not worked. He uses a lot of verbal and psychological abuse. Even when they break up, he looks for her and yells whenever he is not agree with something she is doing. From what I

According to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2014), over 60% of insured adults in the U.S. had experienced childhood trauma, with 16% admitting to multiple types of abuse. This number can be even higher if the study sample included uninsured individuals, especially those who were in the high-risk, low socioeconomic status, and underrepresented population. Child abuse and neglect can cause both short-term and long-term effects, such as improper brain development, impaired cognitive and socio-emotional skills, lower language development, and high risk for chronic diseases, anxiety, and substance abuse (CDC, 2016). Given this information, the purpose of the study by Grabbe, Ball and Hall (2016) is to explore the severity of psychological trauma in women who were abused as a child (Grabbe, Ball, & Hall, 2016). The goal is to gain an understanding of what happened during the women’s childhood that may have prevented them from further abuse (Grabbe, et al., 2016). Consequently, using that information to conceptualize interventions for prevention and treatment of childhood and adolescent abuse (Grabbe, et al., 2016).

Child abuse is a term impacted by copious multidimensional and interactive factors that relate to its origins and effects upon a child's developing capacities and which may act as a catalyst to broader, longer-term implications for adulthood. Such maltreatment may be of a sexual, physical, emotional or neglectful nature, each form holding a proportion of shared and abuse-specific psychological considerations (Mash & Wolfe, 2005). Certainly in terms of the effects / impairments of abuse, developmental factors have been identified across all classifications of child abuse, leading to a comparably greater risk of emotional / mental health problems in adult life within the general population