Can a tongue do as much damage as a fist? The seriousness of emotional abuse as opposed to physical abuse is a controversial topic. Some bring the power of emotional abuse into question, alluding that since the threat is not imminent and a person cannot exactly succumb from spoken words, it is not as damaging. However, if a wound or scar is not visible, does it make it any less real or devastating? The effects of emotional abuse are far-reaching and overwhelming, and should therefore receive at least the same sensitivity and awareness, as physical abuse. Jackie, a driven young woman, walks to her office, compliments trailing her like overexcited puppies. It was a very successful meeting and everyone seems satisfied with the outcome. However, Jackie is distracted and barely hears the compliments; they bounce off her like rubber balls. Her mind is a riot of verbal battering her husband subjected her to, the night before. You are lucky I do not throw you out on the street with nothing. Midstride she feels pressure on her arm; she flinches and jerks away involuntarily. Her colleague is commenting on her ability to perform under pressure. She smiles and nods on cue but politely excuse herself to eliminate any possibility of a prolonged conversation. You are a sorry excuse for a human being. Finally, she is at her office, she looks down as she unlocks her door, the tremor in her hand is barely noticeable, but it is there. She enters her immaculate office, closes the door softly,
I would strongly advise against the measure to remove neglect and emotional abuse from the definition of maltreatment in Oregon. It is important to note that neglect is the most reported and substantiated type of maltreatment, with 771,000 children reportedly suffering from abuse. Neglect can take many forms, and in some cases the signs may not be clear right away. Children may be wearing dirty clothes, or wearing summer clothes in the middle of winter. Other signs could be that the child is hungry all the time and as a result hoards foods, and steals. Children suffering from neglect may also have poor hygiene, or other medical issues. Parents of these children may not have the community help necessary in order to raise a child correctly.
Parents and other trusted caregivers have been abusing and neglecting children, likely since the early days of man. However, over the past half-century, the United States government has encouraged state governments to focus more efforts on child welfare. The Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act defined the term ?child abuse and neglect? as meaning, at a minimum:
Psychological abuse also known as emotional abuse is when someone affects the emotional and social aspect of someone’s life. It is a pattern of behaviors by caregivers that interferes with cognitive, emotional, psychological, and social development. In other words’ it is when someone does something intentionally to hurt the emotional aspects of another person.
The present research is aimed at providing an account of early childhood abuse and its effects on further emotional development. A first focus falls on outlining the psychological stages of emotional development and the notion of emotional response, followed by a thorough analysis of the child abuse spectrum together with effects, both early and belated, of general and most notably socio-emotional nature.
This paper explores 11 published articles which report on results from research conducted on the links between child abuse and adult physical and mental health. The articles vary in their themes and ideas of child abuse in relations to trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress, juvenile offenses, and teen dating violence. Other articles suggest adult criminal behaviors, incarceration and parenting styles of those who were abused as children. This paper examines the relationship within one another of how child abuse affects those children in later years and stages of life.
Each year more cases of Emotional abuse go unreported because the majority of people experiencing emotional abuse are not aware that it is happening. I was one of these people years ago; it took some caring friends to get me to see what was going on. In the following paragraphs I will touch on ways one can tell they are being emotionally abused, and ways to get help. While Undefined, Emotional abuse affects more people each day because they do not know that they are being abused.
Child abuse affects millions of children every year. Child abuse is defined as “the hurting or causing harm to a child” (Stewart, 2003, p. 6). Most people do not understand why a parent would want to hurt their children. “The general belief is that parents who maltreat their children are pathological and certainly not like us” (Polonko, 2005). It is not just parents that abuse the children it is also teachers, babysitters, and daycare workers (Stewart, 2003). Lingern (2008) reported the following:
It is all too easy to underestimate the long-term damage that this type of mental abuse can cause. The abuser is intent on exerting control over their partner and, in the process, causes acute psychological harm.
I was in my last year of secondary school when the teacher embarrassed me in front of my classmates. It was passed for about ten years, but I can still picture it as clear as yesterday, the memories somehow last until now. She was an English teacher, and what she did back then had nothing to do at all with English teaching. At the end of the lesson, she confronted me that I am cocky, arrogant, and has no respect for the elder. She mocked me that I am worthless and should learn how to be polite and courteous. I was shocked, I found myself helpless and busy to think what I did wrong to her.
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
As of the last year, there were 702,000 children who were victims of abuse and neglect. More than four children die every day as a result of child abuse. Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. I decided to choose this particular topic due to the urge of wanting to gain knowledge of what actually happens to a child when he/she experiences child abuse, mentally or physically. Also, helpful prevention strategies. After performing such research, I planned to prove the reality affects of child abuse to a child and how the smallest efforts could prevent the trauma from happening or continuing while learning about Missouri's statute/
Due to the rise of domestic violence in many families, psychologists are helping affected children cope and confront their emotional imprisonment by using various methods. Over the years, there has been a drastic increase in domestic violence cases. In many instances, the children are most affected in the involvement of the violent disputes. Psychologists study the behaviors of affected children and develop a plan of treatment that aim towards the child’s overall health. Psychologists provide the best treatment by immersing themselves inside the child’s situation and connecting with what the child sees. Furthermore, psychologist use a strategy of taking small steps in the overall treatment. Sadly, over the years, there’s been an increase
Underreported and underestimated, domestic abuse rips families apart every single day. Domestic violence comes in mainly five different forms, physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, and economic. This violence ruins families, demoralizes the victims, and the public downplays the household terrorism that goes on every day. Generally thought of as taboo, the public belittles and humorizes domestic abuse as a way to deal with it, that avoidance must come to an end.
You’re Ugly! Stupid! Can you do anything right? I wished you were never born! Does any of these words sound familiar or bring back memories. If they do then you are not alone, there are many people on a daily basis who suffer from verbal-emotional abuse. In today’s society too many of our children live in homes where they face verbal-emotional abuse on a regular basis. In this paper we will discuss what verbal emotional abuse is, why so many children face verbal-emotional abuse and how to tell what the signs of verbal emotional abuse are in order to assist a child in need.
The issue of child emotional abuse is often a difficult topic to discuss as well as treat. Emotional abuse can be very difficult to recognize since it is generally a relationship between a child and a caretaker and not a specific incident or series of events that can be pointed to as abuse. In fact, emotional and psychological maltreatment have no definition that is universally agreed upon, therefore, the two terms are often used interchangeably. Emotional abuse is the most common form of child abuse. While emotional abuse can be present absent any other type of abuse, such as physical or sexual abuse, there is almost certainly emotional abuse present with all other forms of abuse. Emotional abuse may not leave physical scars but it does appear to leave long lasting psychological scars. While there is evidence of psychological damage due to emotional abuse, it is not clear exactly how deep and lasting the damage may be. There is a great need to research the effects, treatment, and interventions for emotional abuse.