Emotional Abuse on Children - Research Paper Example

?EMOTIONAL ABUSE IN CHILDREN: This paper will discuss the issue of emotional abuseamong children. Consequently, the paper will look into how children get emotionally abused by looking into the different types of emotional abuse. Furthermore it will state the most common perpetrators of emotional abuse and the reasons why they do so. The paper will also look into the common signs of emotional abuse in children and the effects the abuse will impose on the children. In addition, it will cover the assistance that can be given to abused children. Finally the paper will talk about the steps that are to be taken in the case a child opens up to incidents of abuse and the actions and steps that can be taken in order to prevent emotional abuse in children. Is it possible to protect children from emotional abuse? Introduction Emotional abuse can be defined as a form of maltreatment that will impact negatively on the psychological growth and development of a child. This will in most cases involve words, indifference and actions and in most cases the people who will abuse the child will often belittle them, criticize and dominate them. This type of abuse may go along with physical abuse on the child or without. Unlike physical abuse, emotional abuse is harder to detect due to lack of any noticeable marks on the child. Despite this, the effects of emotional abuse will have more detrimental effects in comparison to physical abuse (Jantz & Mc Murray, 2009). In order to be able to recognize the emotional abuse that a child may be having there will be need for clinical diagnosis. This in most cases will be done using a Child Abuse and Trauma Scale (CATS). This will normally involve a revised version that will be centred on targeting any form of emotional abuse on the child. In most cases as detected, the children who are abused emotionally will tend to have a very high level of loyalty to the parent due to the fear of retribution that will present in the form of punishment. In other cases this children may be afraid of reporting the abuse as they perceive it as part of the normal life. Sometimes the parents may inflict the emotional abuse on the child albeit in an indirect manner; this will be a case where the parents has too much expectations from the child be it in academics or sports hence leading to pressure on the child as he or she develops a fear of disappointing the parents. This is because failure to achieve this can lead to a feeling of not being good enough for their parents and eventually will lead to low self-esteem (Jantz & Mc Murray, 2009). Indicators of Emotional Abuse in Children Some of the indicators that can be used in detecting children who may suffer emotional abuse will mainly present in actions of the child. Most of the children will tend to have behaviours that are either immature or too mature for the Child’s age. In addition, the child may have a dramatic change in behaviour or develop a compulsion in which he or she will try to seek affection or attention. The child in some cases will have aggressiveness in behaviour when dealing with other children or suddenly becomes very uncooperative. In some severe cases the child will loss control of the bowel movement or have a bedwetting tendency. Other signs may include lack of self confidence along with poor relations with peers while they having an inability to react with emotion in situations that a normal child does. However, physically the child will appear like any other normal kid hence differentiating will be very difficult. It is also important to note that most of the mentioned signs can occur in normal children without necessarily the presence of emotional abuse arising (Boy Scouts of America, 2005). Perpetrators of Emotional Abuse in Children In trying to find out who may be the perpetrators of committing emotional abuse to child, all adults in the child’s life will have to be considered as possible suspects. This will have a wide range of persons and will vary from the parents, pastors, teachers, neighbours, social workers and judges. Some of the common signs of persons who may be abusing the child will include some form of belittlement and blaming situations that will occur in public. In other cases, these persons may tend to have some unrealistic expectations from the child along with threats being given that include severe punishment. In other instances, the adults will not give the emotional support that the child requires and may be suffering from drug or alcohol abuse leading to a violent approach of handling issues (Wolfe, 1991). Understanding Emotional Abuse In all cases no single child prefers to be in an emotionally abusive relationship with an adult. However, most of these children tend to get verbally abused very often to the point that the parent soon begins to define various factors and reactions suitable for the child. Some of the experiences that soon become define include the emotions and judgement is soon passed on the child’s behaviour and she/he becomes unable to develop their own personal viewpoints and validation to own feelings and perceptions (Tomison & Tucci, 1997). Causes of Emotional Abuse on Children There are many reasons that can be attributed to adults who should be of caring nature inflicting emotional abuse on children. In most cases the reasons may relate to those that lead to physical abuse. Some of the main reason will include a diminished sense of dealing and understanding children. In some cases this will have to do with a false impression of child’s needs while in severe cases may be a result of sadistic psychosis that is a condition involving instilling emotional suffering on others hence will do this enable them be in control of the child. In most cases it may not a single reason but will be a combination of emotional and social pressures that will result in emotional abuse on the child. In other instances this will as a result of family stress that can be due to social stress brought about by divorce, death, and poverty and health crisis. In other cases adults who have mental problems can also inflict some form of emotional abuse on the child albeit unknowingly (Tomison & Tucci, 1997). Type’s of Emotional Abuse Rejection This is a form of emotional abuse in which the adult or parent will put down a child’s needs and put in front their own needs. This will include constant criticism and will include yelling and swearing at the child. In addition, verbal humiliation will be employed with reference to insulting words like ‘idiot or stupid’. In addition the adult or parent will express the wishes of having the child not born and this will go as far as excluding the child from all function so f the family while not allowing them to make their decisions. Most of the insidious abuses will occur under rejection form of emotional abuse and will be the most damaging among the different forms of abuse (Boy Scouts of America, n.d.). Isolation This will involve the lack of response or interaction with the child. In this case, the adult will ignore the child totally as if they do not exist. The child in this case will be left for long hours without any form of attention as well as keeping the child away from the rest of the family. The child will also not be permitted to interact with other children and the parent or adult will insist in keeping the child occupied by giving excessive chores. The apparent will also reward the child if they withdraw from the social concept and will give punishment if the child does partake in any social activities (www.preventchildabuse.org, n.d). Ignoring In this case the parent or guardian will fail in interacting with the child or youth at all and will not give any response to the child. The parent will not respond to any behaviours of the child be it social, health care, school activities or any interests in the child’s life. The parent or guardian will also proceed and plan various activities that will involve planning for various activities for recreation like vacation without involvement of the youth or child (Boy Scouts of America, n.d.). Infliction of Terror This is a situation where the child will be inflicted terror by the use of constant threats or behaviour that is of an intimidating nature. In addition, this will include the child being let to witness various acts of violence for example domestic violence that will result in the terror indirectly. The parent may also give threats that will involve harming a favourite pet or ridiculing the child in public. In addition the child may be forced to witness the infliction of inhumane acts on animals while the child in some cases may also be threatened to be kicked out of the house. If the child does experience some form of domestic violence then they will be experiencing all forms of abuse all the same time (www.preventchildabuse.org, n.d). Exploitation This is another form of emotional abuse in which the child will be forced to commit responsibilities that will be far greater than the child can handle. This will include expecting the child to provide financially for the family along with blame being shifted to the child if a case arises where the siblings are found to be misbehaving. In severe cases, the child may be expected to participate in sexual abuse or participate in participate in pornography. This may be physical abuse but will also have a form of emotional abuse on the child. Other forms of emotional abuse will include corrupting; in this case the child will be expected to perform acts that are illegal and harmful to them. In such situations the child will be rewarded for lying, stealing, bullying or involvement in drugs through supply and all this will be done in order to benefit the adult or parent (www.preventchildabuse.org, n.d). Denying This is a type of emotional abuse in which the person inflicting the abuse will withhold and refuse to listen or communicate with the child emotionally and all this will be done as a form of punishment. These will include the parent being unwilling to listen to child; name calling and this will sometimes be referred to as the silent treatment. The effects of this abuse can have very negative effects as the child becomes unable to create conflct and develops a very low self esteem. Furthermore the invalidation of personal perception will lead to questions about own sanity and result in mistrust on personal feelings and perceptions. This loss of confidence on own mind by the child can lead to lack of development of participation in any activities (O’Hagan, 1993). Effects of Child Abuse In most cases the effects are on the emotional aspect of the child. These range and can be either long term or short term depending on the degree and length of time that the child underwent the abuse. Most commonly the children who have been victims of emotional abuse will tend to have lifelong patterns of depression, anxiety, troubled and inappropriate relationships. Others will include low self-esteem, estrangement and lack empathy in all that they do. This can be attributed to the fact that at childhood, they may fail develop properly as this process was interrupted by the abuse that they underwent. As they grow older and become teenagers, the ability to trust is limited hence lowering the chances of involvement in interpersonal relationships. This is due to the inability to solve the complex feelings that they have unsolved from their childhoods. The problem will go on until they are adults and in this case they may have trouble in developing an ability to recognize and appreciate the need and feelings in their own children resulting in unconsciously abusing their children emotionally. It is important to note that all the children who will be abused will turn out this way, in other cases when given the much needed care they grow up into good parents who aim at protecting their children from the type of abuse that they underwent hence becoming responsible and caring parents (Jaunts &McMurray, 2009). Assistance Given for Abused Children Handling Disclosure from Children An abused child is normally under severe emotional distress hence the action and response given in the case of an emotional disclosure has to be undertaken with a lot of caution to avoid mistrust propping. This would lead to the child keeping to oneself and not disclosing more resulting in them suffering in silence without anyone to lean to. This is important is the disclosure has taken place in the school. In such situations the teacher has to assure the child that all the information being given will be treated with the utmost discretion. This can provide the comfort and safe feeling the child needs in order to disclose more. In such instances it is important to reassure the child by telling them that everything is going to be okay and they are safe. However caution has to be taken so as to make any promises that cannot be fulfilled (www.preventchildabuse.org, n.d.). Steps to be taken in the case of a disclosure The first thing for teacher, parent or counsellor to do if a child decides to disclose is listen attentively and without any interruption. In such situations all the questions that may be asked for further clarification should not be leading so as to allow the child to give his or her own account of the type of abuse that they may be undergoing. If the child keeps on recalling on significant events the adult should not stop them and in all situations there should not be any overreactions as this may frighten and the child and make them less comfortable. Finally the discussion should be recorded and prompt action taken. This can be contacting the parent or Child Abuse Prevention authorities (Davies, 2010). Before any action is taken, there needs to be effective confirmation of emotional abuse of the child. This will be done by a close observation of the interaction between the child and the abuser. This will be done on repeated occasions and if abuse is suspected action will have to be regardless of whether the action is committed in the home setting, school or in the community. The caregiver will have to investigate any reports that arise of any sort of abuse as this will easily contribute to child abuse. After investigation has been conducted by children protection agency, the team has consulted professional opinion in this case may be a doctor, physician or psychologist. In addition other stakeholders in the legal aspect will have to be involved to ensure that all the proper actions are taken including the child is given some of rehabilitation to ensure they recover from the negative actions that have been impacted (O’Hagan, 1993). Prevention of Emotional Abuse on Children In order to prevent cases of emotional abuse on children, health professionals will have to conduct awareness in the community. This will involve proper education on emotional child abuse in the community and with much emphasis being given to parents as they are the ones who are closest to their children and can easily detect any abuse should it arise. Besides, the parents and guardians should be encouraged to develop a strong attachment to their children in which it will provide a bridge for the children to express themselves. This can be done by actions and feeling that express positive regard and warmth towards the child. In addition, parents should be notified on the importance of forming relations with the support systems that have been put up to ensure prompt action can easily be taken if the child shows any signs of emotional abuse (www.preventchildabuse.org, n.d). In most cases the abuse on children especially by parents can be a result of the adults own stresses and pressures from life. Hence the parent’s ability to recognize when they have a problem and seeking some form of prompt remedy or solution can prevent the situation where they take out on their children hence protecting them indirectly. Some times the day-to-day pressures of life can result in a prevent lashing out at the child. In order to prevent such occurrences the parents should learn how to behave in such instances like taking a deep breath first or putting self on a time-out chair for a few minutes in order to clam down. Finally more research should be done to try and establish the parent-child relations and any factors that can easily predispose the child to emotional abuse. This will assist in setting up measures that will prevent such incidents from happening or assist in early detection. This can include better diagnosis methods in the clinical setting (www.preventchildabuse.org, n.d). Conclusion Emotional abuse can be regarded as a psychological mistreatment that affects the normal growth of the child psychologically. It is harder to detect due to no visible physical signs of abuse like in the case of physical abuse hence a lot of care must be taken in order to detect the vice. In most cases this can be detected if the children are either withdrawn and do not interact with peers, in some cases the children may act out. The best approach if a child is suspected of suffering emotional abuse is seeking a specialist to try and diagnose the same. This can be effectively done by closer observation the reaction especially when dealing with the abuser. If confirmed, proper actions should be taken including proper rehabilitation procedures for the child along with legal repercussions for the offender. However steps can be taken to prevent this including awareness programs at the family, institution and community levels. Bibliography O’Hagan, K. (1993). Emotional and psychological abuse of children. USA: Open University Press. Tomison, A. & Tucci, J. (1997). Issues in Child Abuse Prevention. Number 8 Spring. Retrieved on 5 Oct. 2011 from http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/issues/issues8/issues8.html Wolfe, D. (1991). Preventing physical and emotional abuse of children. New York: Guilford Press. Boy Scouts of America. (2005). How to Prevent Your Child from Child Abuse: A Parent’s Guide. Retrieved 5 Oct. 2011 from http://www.scouting.org/filestore/ypt/pdf/46-015.pdf www.preventchildabuse.org. Prevent Child Abuse America. Retrieved 5 Oct. 2011 from http://member.preventchildabuse.org/site Jaunts, G. & McMurray, A. (2009). Healing the Scars of Emotional Abuse. New York: Prentice Hall Davies, L. (2010). Emotional Abuse of Children. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 7 (6): 12-34 Read More