CHILD EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Child Emotional Abuse

Child Emotional Abuse

Introduction

Emotional abuse moves from acts of omission to also include acts of commission that result in emotional injury or trauma to the child and/or serious behavioral or mental disorders. Emotional abuse may involve use of extreme punishments beyond what a reasonable adult would consider appropriate such as locking a child in a dark closet or less florid acts such as repeated scorning and verbally degrading the child, habitual scapegoating (blaming the child for causing any and all problems or stressors in a family), or rejecting the child. This form of neglect is the most difficult to detect because the harm is not physical (Sgroi, 2005).

hild abuse and neglect do not affect all children in the same way. The impact of the abuse on the child depends on the nature, severity, and length of time over which the abuse occurred, as well as the child's temperament, personality, and level of functioning prior to the onset of the abuse. The level of emotional support and assistance received by the victim is also critical. Whether the child has just one positive, consistent, and nurturing relationship with a person in his or her life has been shown to significantly mediate or protect the child from the potential effects of the abuse (Schwartz 2001).

Emotional abuse, also referred to as psychological maltreatment, is a relatively new area of study in the field of child abuse and neglect. Examples of emotionally abusive behaviors include verbal abuse, belittlement, symbolic acts that terrorize a child, lack of emotional availability by caregivers, and anything else that results in the impairment of a child's developing competence. Allowing a child to witness violence in the home is sometimes considered emotional abuse. Some suggest that emotional abuse takes five forms: rejecting, isolating, terrorizing, ignoring, and corrupting (Ney, 2005). To become a substantiated case, the emotional abuse must be sustained and repetitive. Substantiated cases of emotional abuse were reported to government agencies in 1999 at a rate of 0.9 per 1,000 children.

Abuse can seriously interfere with a child's normal development, resulting in emotional and behavioral symptoms in the child. Chronic, repeated abuse, especially by a parent, may interfere with a child's ability to formulate an attachment or bond with a parent. Later, these children have difficulty establishing healthy, reciprocal emotional connections with others (Grapes, 2001).

Emotional abuse of children can take the form of rejecting the child emotionally or physically abandoning the child; unduly criticizing the child or blaming him or her for family misfortune; threatening the child with death, mutilation, or punishment; isolating the child from peers or other family members; encouraging the child to participate in criminal activities such as drug selling; or abusing favorite pets. Symptoms of emotional abuse include depression, anxiety, stomach or head pain without any other cause, failure to gain weight (especially in infants), difficulty forming relationships, inappropriate emotional reactions such as angry outbursts or cruelty toward others, and withdrawing from social contact with others (Dorne, ...