EMOTIONAL ABUSE AND IT'S EFFECT ON CHILDREN

Good afternoon my fellow steemians. I'm very happy to be back here again for another very important piece. I hope you find this very helpful.

Emotional abuse, which sometimes can be referred to as psychological abuse, is a type of abuse that subjects or exposes a child to a behavior that will cause psychological trauma such as depression and anxiety and negatively impacts their emotional development. It involves non-physical behavior that belittles a child and though the scars are not visible, it can damage a child's mental health.
Emotional abuse, though very common,is the hardest form of abuse to recognize.

    TYPES OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Rejecting;

This is a type of abuse in which a parent or caretaker purposefully or unconsciously makes a child feel unwanted and unloved. Examples includes; physical and emotional abandonment, blaming a child for family problems, locking the child out of home to discipline or punish them, kicking them out of the house, refusing love, affection and attention, and lots more.

Terrorizing;

This involves yelling, cursing, swearing and threatening a child. This causes a child to be terrified because of the use of threats and intimidating behaviors. Examples includes; excessive screaming, cursing, teasing and raging at a child, threatening and intimidating a child in front of other children, threatening to reveal personal and embarrassing information to the child's friends, and lots more.

Isolation;

This involves not allowing a child engage in activities with his or her peers, or a baby unexposed to stimulation or preventing teenagers from participating in extracurricular activities. Examples include; locking a child up in the room from close of school till the next morning, leaving a child alone for a long period,etc.

Ignoring;
This is failure to respond, attach or interact with a child by not showing any interest or with-holding affection to a child and failing to recognize the child's presence in your life. It also means inability to protect a child, denying medical care to a child, failure to attend to a child's physical and emotional needs, etc.

Exploiting;
This means manipulating or forcing a child to do something without considering the child's need for development. Examples include; expecting an 8year old to always be responsible for family dinner, requiring a child to care for a grandparent or younger sibling, unreasonable expectations to perform chores or household duties and lots more.

Corrupting;
This involves encouraging an underaged child to do things that are illegal or harmful such as stealing, cheating, lying, doing drugs, bullying, and watching inappropriate sexual content.

SIGNS OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

. Low self-esteem
. Anxiety
. Delayed emotional development
. Depression
. Attempts to avoid certain situations
. Deliberate attempts to hurt themselves or others.
. Developmental regression(bed wetting?
. Loss of interest in social activities
. Desperately seeking attention from other adults.

EXAMPLES OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

. A teacher mocks a child struggling to read in front of the class.
. A step-parent say they wish the child didn't exist.
. After divorce, a parent makes a child lie about the other parent to the judge just to gain custody.
. A child is exposed to domestic violence at home.
. A parent with alcohol use disorder screams at a child all night.
. A babysitter threatening and screaming at a child.
. Locking up a child in a room everyday.

  RISK FACTORS FOR EMOTIONAL ABUSE

. Being emotionally abused as a child
. Having physical or mental disorder.
. Dealing with financial stress, poverty or unemployment.
. Being socially isolated.
. Raising a child that is physically or developmentally disabled.
. Using alcohol or drugs.
. Experiencing family crisis.

    EFFECTS OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

The effects of emotional abuse on children can be severe and can persist into adulthood
. Most times, a child often believe that they are the reason why they are abused and that it means that they are unloved and unwanted. Here are the long term effects of this:

. Suicide and mental illness: teenagers who experienced emotional abuse as a child are likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness such as anxiety or depression which also persist to adulthood.
. Behavioral and social problems: emotional abuse in children has also been linked to sexually aggressive behavior and delinquency in adults.
. Repeating the cycle of abuse: without proper intervention, people who were abused as kids are more likely to abuse their children than people who were not abused.
. Attachment issues: it can interfere with a child's ability to form and maintain healthy attachment or relationship. It increases risk for children to have poor peer relationship, trouble with intimacy, difficulty with conflict and so on.

TREATMENT FOR EMOTIONAL ABUSE

If a child is emotionally abused,the first thing to do is to take the child to a safe location, and then appropriate treatment can begin. They will benefit from the therapy of a licensed mental health professional to help process and relief what they suffered emotionally, then they learn healthy coping mechanism, social skills and conflict resolution.

       WHAT TO DO

If u suspect a child to be emotionally abused, what you have to do is to report such immediately to child protective service because they need to be evaluated by social services.

As a parent or guardian, you suspect your child/ward is being emotionally abused by someone else such as the teacher, pastor or coach, to need to take appropriate steps to help the child and report the matter.

       SUMMARY

Emotional abuse can cause many invisible scars that can damage a child's mental health,so it is not something to be taken for granted. We all should ensure at all cost that we avoid abusing children be it ours or others and we should always learn to discipline them in love and not in anger.

Thank you so much my fellow steemians for bringing out time to read this very important piece and I hope it benefits both kids and adults so that we can bring up happy children in our society.