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Psychological child abuse essay
Psychological child abuse essay
The effect of child abuse on emotional development
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Every year, there are close to a million incidents of psychological child abuse (As quoted by Mufson, page 4). Psychological abuse is an attack on one’s self-esteem and self-confidence which in turn damages their emotional and mental stability. Emotional abuse severely affects children in many different aspects of their lives. The two types of emotional abuse, can be present on their own or both together. When a parent psychologically abuses their child they never actually become satisfied with the child’s actions.
Emotional and mental abuse has a tremendous affect on the brain. A definition of emotional abuse explains how the emotions and feelings of the child are being attacked. Some things the attacker might say can include calling the
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Passive abuse includes things such as: not giving the child the love that they need, no praises or encouragements, expecting tasks from the child that they aren’t emotionally ready for, failure to see the child’s individuality, and not encouraging them to make friends. (Emotional Abuse) Active abuse includes other forms of abuse such as: refusing to accept a child as him or herself, causing children to be extremely afraid, isolating the child, finding no worth in the child’s being, and corrupting children into thinking they are less pure or valuable. (Emotional Abuse) Some cases of emotional abuse can include some forms of both active and passive abuse while some other parents have a theme of being more one than the other. Neither one is more harsh than the other and both are very threatening to the child. Children don’t know how to act when they are being mistreated by their authority. It can confuse the child when the person that is supposed to care for them and love them says just the opposite. The more negative comments the child hears, the more they believe them to be true and the more the child is damaged. Some parents may display more acts leaning towards active emotional abuse and some may lean more towards passive but none of the parents fully understand what affect they are really having on their …show more content…
When someone confronts an abusive parents they may deny that their actions can be hurtful. The parents that think they are helping their kids by being tough on them may deny the child 's hurt feelings. This makes it very hard for the child to come out and tell someone, especially the parent, that their feelings are being hurt. This is why emotional abuse is hard to come by, children may in fact lie or over exaggerate making it incredibly difficult to know if the parent is indeed in denial. The real cases of abuse when the child is not lying or over exaggerating the parents actions of words, can be so threatening. The parents have the authority over the children that in a serious situation, other adults tend to take the parents word for it. Some kids can go years being emotionally abused and no one would find out, either because they are too afraid to tell or because they’ve come to the conclusion that the abuse is acceptable or normal. Most emotionally abusive parents don’t have enough emotional stability on their own to take responsibility for their
Currently, there are many children whom suffer from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in their family. Emotional abuse is the lack of interest or affection parents have towards their children. As a result of emotional abuse, children are left feeling worthless and unloved. Physical abuse refers to attacking children resulting visible bodily injuries from either being burned, pushed, punched, slapped, or whipped. Sometimes physical abuse can be extremely severe that children have broken bones, fractures, or hemorrhaging. Sexual abuse occurs when a person forces, tricks, or threatens children to have sexual contact. These acts of child abuse could prevent children from living a normal adulthood. In order to deal with such a traumatic childhood, adults abused as children should rid themselves of such burdensome, painful memories.
Emotional Abuse, (also known as: Verbal abuse, mental abuse, and psychological cruelty) includes acts or the failures to act by parents or caretakers that have caused or could cause serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional or mental disorders. This can include parents and/or caretakers using extreme or bizarre forms of punishment, such as the child being confined in a closet or dark room, being tied to a chair for long periods of time, or threatening or terrorizing a young mind. Less severe acts, but no less damaging is overly negative criticism or rejecting treatment, using degrading terms to describe the child, constant victimizing or blaming the child for situations.
Physical and emotional abuse can originate from any source but the majority of the abuse generates from parental or adult figures and is direct toward a timid figure, typically a child. The abuser commonly chooses a more timid recipient because they will be less likely to stand up against the abuser. Physical abuse is maltreatment that involves actual contact between one body part of a person and an other body part of an other person, such as hitting or slapping. Emotional abuse consists of just the opposite: maltreatment that is directed to harming the individual psychologically, such as negative comments or put downs (National Exchange Club Foundation, 2000).
Child Abuse is an extremely significant conflict around the world; it is the physical maltreatment or sexual molestation of a child. There are 4 main types of victimization against children. Those containing physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect. Physical abuse is when a parent or guardian wounds their child in the form of injuring them or in any other manner causing them agony. Emotional abuse also recognized as mental abuse is when they mentally upset a child’s feelings that may generate trauma. Sexual abuse can probably be characterized as someone forcing a child in an act of unwanted sexual relationships. Neglect is the form of not providing a child with their basic physical and emotional necessities. Most people are forming organizations to prevent from future child abuse occurring but most people are also not getting involved in such dangerous crimes. Usually more than 90% of abusers tend to be people children know, love, or trust, according to Bright Futures 4 Kids.
Psychological maltreatment is also often referred to interchangeably as emotional or mental abuse. This refers to any form of maltreatment that can be categorized as an individual being subjected to the activities of another individual that frequently result in any form of mental trauma of the victim. Psychological maltreatment can be seen as one of the most serious and slightly overlooked problems in modern society (Lesson & Nixon, 2010). In general, psychological maltreatment is considered any kind of abuse that is emotional opposed to physical in nature. Nevertheless, there is much controversy regarding the true definition and consequences of psychological maltreatment. As of now, psychological maltreatment is one of the most difficult forms of maltreatment to detect and
emotional abuse is insulting or labeling the child. Children become traumatized and insecure with this type of abuse.
Sexual abuse does not always involve touching or any body contact. It can involve exposing a child to sexual situations and that is considered being sexually abusive. Emotional abuse is any form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Anyone that has e...
Emotional abuse is saying or doing things that make a child feel unloved, unwanted, unsafe, or worthless. It can range from yelling and threatening to ignoring the child and not giving love and support. It may not leave scars you can see, but the damage to a child is just as real. (Child Abuse and Neglect - Topic
If there is abuse in your surroundings during childhood it can form emotional troubles because it can include anything from verbal abuse and constant criticism to more subtle tactics, such as manipulation, intimidation, and failure to please someone. Emotional abuse can be patterns of failure of parenting on the caregiver to provide a supportive environment. Growing up in a toxic household that contains drugs, prostitution, fighting can mold a child into believing that they are not worthy enough to have people in their life to support and make them better. Now, emotional abuse is not only within a child’s household, this can happen anywhere. School is one place where children deal with emotional abuse in the sense of words. Being bullied and being called names everyday can have a toll on someone psychologically, where they start to believe that they are exactly the names that abuser is calling them. This can get looked over because some many think that it is just words and that they can not hurt you because there is not physical evidence, but these less severe forms of abuse can still cause emotional deprivation that still have a strong affect. This can make children anxious and insecure, who are slow to develop as adults and who may fail to develop a strong sense of self-esteem (Gibb,
A person's emotions influence every aspect of ones lives. Especially when you’re a child, your emotions are vulnerable to every interaction they receive. When these emotions are beaten down and destroyed continuously, a common name for this is abuse. For example, Dee, a young married woman, was emotionally abused every day by her husband. He treated her as more of a servant than a wife, and she eventually hated her life.
Emotional abuse can be understood as the “failure to provide children with an emotional environment conducive to adequate psychological, developmental and physical progress to ac...
Falling in love with someone is supposed to be one of life’s greatest gifts. People fall in love, get married and have children. Sometimes life is not that simple for some people. Sometimes during this great time in their life, their partner becomes physically, mentally, and sexually abusive. So one would ask, why not leave and get out of the relationship? It is not that simple for the victim. Fear of their partner’s actions, concerns about their children, and their deep attachment to their partner are factors that cause people to stay in abusive relationships.
Emotional abuse has much in common with verbal abuse in that it is an attempt to hurt attack or control the victim. The emotional abuser often uses verbal abuse to hurt the victim, but can use other means as well. Emotional abuse often accompanies other forms of abuse such as physical abuse and verbal abuse. Individuals who hold the least power and resources in society are most often emotionally abused. This type of abuse has the potential to leave behind many significant hidden scars for the victim. Victims of physical abuse feel emotional abuse is more sever and debilitating than physical abuse. Out comes of emotional abuse may be manifested in a number of ways such as poor self esteem, social withdrawal, insecurity, substance abuse and difficulty forming positive attachments with others.
To begin with, emotional abuse is a type of abuse that can hurt a child psychologically. The reason why this form of abuse can hurt a child psychologically is because it damage the way a child looks at him or herself. There are many different ways one can emotionally abuse someone. Some of these ways include name calling, degrading a child, or even showing no loving affection at all. Calling a child “worthless” or “stupid” is a form of verbal abuse that is categorized under emotional abuse. Caregivers may also constantly blame the child for things that may not even be their fault. When a parent begins purposely ignore the child as a form of punishment he or she is going to feel like they are not wanted or loved.
Child abuse is one of the highest growing social problems in the United States. A social problem is, “a condition that a significant number of people believe to be a problem. A condition in which there is a sizable difference between the ideals of a society and its actual achievements” (Coleman et al. 2006:2). However, society has changed the way it views the issue, and is working towards finding a solution to this awful problem. Child abuse encompasses four main areas: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Child abuse is considered a sociological phenomenon because it is a learned behavior. Learning the social patterns as to why people abuse will give a better understanding to its reasons, and also the development of society in the way that it views children. 3.6 million children were victims of abuse in the year 2006. Sixty four percent were victims of neglect, sixteen percent suffered from physical abuse, and eight percent were sexually abused. Also in 2006, 1,530 children died as a result of abuse; an average of four children everyday (Child Welfare Information Gateway 2008).