Child psychological abuse is a very worrying issue today since it has many implications and consequences in general, both on a personal and social level. Although there are many cases that do not come to light publicly, on TV, social networks, etc., we must know that there are many children who find themselves in this situation of violence and that, if something is not done about it, its consequences can be for life. So that we are more informed about this problem, from we offer you the following article that will talk about what child abuse is, how to detect child psychological abuseits signs, consequences and what to do about it if you find yourself involved in this situation.
What is psychological child abuse?
Psychological or emotional child abuse exists to a greater or lesser extent in all types of abuse, physical, sexual, negligent, etc., and represents very important damage to the child’s competence, that is, in the communication skills, in the development of patience, in setting moderate goals and in the development of the ego. It appears when the adults responsible for the child continually limit her initiatives and provoke negative feelings towards one’s own self-esteem. They include behaviors such as insults, rejections, threats, humiliations, contempt, ridicule, criticism that cause a deterioration in the emotional and intellectual development of the child. Some of the most frequent expressions or forms of child psychological abuse could be those shown below:
- Verbal and/or non-verbal acts of the adult who degrade and reject to the kid.
- threaten, terrify to the child by suffering physical harm, abandonment or destroying loved ones or objects.
- Isolate or deny opportunities relationship with other people, whether family members or other known people.
- Promote the development of behaviors inappropriate behaviors in the child, such as criminal, self-injurious, antisocial behavior, etc.
- Ignore communication needs of the child, denying him affection, protection, love.
- ignore, fail or failing to provide required treatment for the child’s mental health, physical, or educational problems.
In this article you will find more information about it.
Consequences of child abuse
The psychological consequences of children who have suffered childhood abuse can be diverse, but they can manifest as educational difficulties, low self-esteem, depression, and relationship problems. Next, we will classify the possible consequences that abused children may experience:
- Deficiencies in executive functions and cognitive abilities: One of the consequences of child psychological abuse is problems in the development of cognitive functions such as memory, self-control, school learning and cognitive flexibility since the abuse situations interrupted good functioning and cognitive development.
- Affected mental and emotional health: They can suffer from different mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric disorders during adulthood.
- Difficulties in social relationships: like attachment disorders, they can negatively affect the child’s ability to form relationships among peers or with any family member or acquaintance.
- : It is a disorder that consists of reliving and experiencing traumatic events related to abuse, avoiding people, places, feeling fear, horror, guilt, shame, hypervigilance, etc.
Causes of child psychological abuse
There are different causes or risk factors that can lead to psychological abuse of a minor, we show them below:
- Previous history of abuse or childhood abuse by caregivers. Here we talk about him.
- Problems of addictions, alcoholism or drug dependency. In this article we talk about the.
- Complicated economic situation, unemployment or poverty.
- Son or daughter with disability physical or mental.
- Marriage crisis or couple, which affect the domestic environment.
- Little skill or knowledge about how to educate in an assertive, non-violent and healthy way for the children. In this article you can see the .
- Caregivers with any disease physical or mental.
- Social isolation or the community in which they reside.
Signs to detect child psychological abuse
Below we will detail different indicators or signs that would lead us to think that a child is suffering psychological abuse. Next, we will present different behaviors of caregivers that can lead us to think that there is emotional abuse in a child or adolescent.
- In the foreground, the behavioral signals would be the variations from normal behavioror reactive or behavioral disorders triggered by environmental conditions.
- Emotional signs could be suffering from a emotional and intellectual development disordereating and sleeping disorders, phobias, manias, anxiety, and personality disorders (criminal, suicidal, antisocial behavior…), psychotic disorders and finally, psychosomatic disorders.
- When the caregiver rejects the child, girl or adolescent: they do not respond to the child’s communication needs, the child is excluded from family activities, when their achievements are constantly devalued, they do not accept the evolutionary changes of age, they are denied autonomy and they are verbally criticized and humiliated.
- When the caregiver isolates the childlittle girl or adolescent: parents do not allow them to communicate with other people or other children or even with themselves, they deny them relationships with a peer group and do not allow them to participate in other activities outside of school.
- When the caregiver terrifies the childlittle girl or adolescent: when parents respond in an extreme and disproportionate way for no reason, when they constantly criticize them even in public or threaten to expose them to public humiliation.
- When the caregiver corrupts the childlittle girl or adolescent: the abuser or abusers reinforce the development of strange habits, reinforce aggressiveness, precocious sexuality, committing theft, taking drugs, prostitution, etc.
- When the caregiver ignores the child, girl or adolescent: when caregivers do not pay attention to their development or respond to their social behaviors, when they do not show affection or the school help that the child needs, nor are they interested in the activities they do.
Should I report child psychological abuse?
If you are aware of a situation of child abuse, it is your duty as a citizen to notify and report it. Below we show you the steps or protocol that must be followed in these cases:
- Detection: If you are within the child’s immediate environment, such as the family, school or pediatric environment, you will be able to detect and identify it. Once detected, the next step will proceed.
- Notification: if the case is very serious, it will be referred to the Child Care Servicessuch as the EAIA (in the case of Catalonia), to the police or to the Guard Courtsto take the necessary measures and to be able to carry out an investigation of the case and its seriousness.
- Assessment: in this step, if the abuse is less serious, it will be referred to the Primary Care Social Services so that they can conduct interviews with the family, the victim, the school and the health services, in order to extract the maximum amount of information. about the case.
- Performance: Depending on the severity of the case, it will be decided whether it is most convenient to remove the minor from his or her family home or school and transfer him to residential services for minors. What is mainly sought is that the minor has minimal contact with abuse and is not exposed to other similar situations.
- Follow-up: Following up on the case is very important when making new decisions or rectifying them with the main objective of achieving the greatest well-being of the minor.
The most important thing is prevention, therefore, in this article we explain.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (1995). Psychosocial evaluation of suspected psychological maltreatment in children and adolescents. Practice guidelines. Chicago: APSAC.
- Arruabarrena, MI (2011). Psychological Abuse of Children and Adolescents in the Family: Definition and Assessment of its Severity. Psychosocial Intervention, 20(1). Recovered from: http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1132-05592011000100004
- Varea, J, M. and Val, A. (2018). Violence against childhood and adolescence. Institut de Formació Contínua,1, 7-300.