Child psychological abuse is a very worrying issue today as 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, on TV, social networks, etc., we must know that there are many Children who are in this situation of violence and that, if something is not done about it, its consequences can be of for life. So that we are more informed about this problem, from Psychology-Online we offer you the following article that will talk about what child abuse is, how to detect child psychological abuse, its signs, consequences and what to do about it if you find yourself involved in this situation.
Child psychological or emotional abuse exists to a greater or lesser extent in all types of abuse, physical, sexual, negligent, etc., and is very damaging. important in the child's competence, that is, in communication skills, in the development of patience, in the setting of moderate goals and in the development of the ego. It appears when the adults responsible for the child continually limit their initiatives and
- Verbal and / or non-verbal acts of the adult who degrade and reject to the kid.
- Threaten, terrorize the child with suffering physical damage, abandonment or destroying her loved ones or objects.
- Isolate or deny opportunities relationship with other people, whether they are family members or other known people.
- Encourage the development of behaviors inappropriate in the child, such as criminal, autolytic, antisocial behavior, etc.
- Ignoring communication needs of the child, denying him affection, protection, love.
- Ignore, fail or not allowing the provision of required treatment for the child's mental, physical, or educational health problems.
In this article you will find more information about the child abuse.
The psychological consequences of children who have suffered child abuse can be diverse, but can manifest as educational difficulties, low self-esteem, depression and problems when it comes to be related. Next, we will make a classification of the possible consequences that abused children can 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 situations of abuse interrupted the good functioning and development cognitive.
- Affected mental and emotional health: they can suffer from different mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression, suicide attempts and other psychiatric disorders in adulthood.
- Difficulties in social relationships: Like attachment disorders, they can negatively affect the child's ability to form relationships with peers or with any family member or acquaintance.
- PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder): 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.
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 cues would be the variations in normality of behavior, or reactive or behavioral disorders triggered by environmental conditions.
- Emotional signs could be having a emotional and intellectual development disorder, learning disorders, eating and sleeping disorders, phobias, manias, anxiety, behavioral disorders and personality (criminal, suicidal, antisocial ...), psychotic disorders and finally, psychosomatic disorders.
- When the caregiver rejects the child, girl o adolescent: they do not respond to the child's communication needs, the child is excluded from family activities, when they constantly devalue their achievements, they do not accept the evolutionary changes of age, they are denied autonomy and they are criticized and humiliated verbally.
- When the caregiver isolates the child, little girl or adolescent: parents do not allow him 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 the school.
- When the caregiver terrifies the child, little 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 humiliation public.
- When the caretaker corrupts the child, little girl or adolescent: the abuser or abusers reinforce the development of strange habits, they reinforce aggressiveness, precocious sexuality, to commit robberies, to take drugs, to prostitution, etc.
- When the caregiver ignores the child, girl o adolescent: when caregivers do not pay attention to her evolution or respond to her social behaviors, when they do not show affection or the school help that the child needs, or are interested in the activities that makes.
If you are aware of a situation of child abuse, it is your duty as a citizen to notify and report it. Here are the steps or protocol that must be followed in these cases:
- Detection: if you are in the close environment of the child, such as family, school or pediatric, you will be able to detect and identify it. Once detected, proceed to the next step.
- Notification: if the case is very serious, it will be referred to Child Care Services, such as the EAIA (in the case of Catalonia), to the police or to the Guard Courts, to 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 do interviews with the family, the victim, the school and the health services, in order to extract as much information as possible about the case.
- PerformanceDepending on the severity of the case, it will be decided whether the most convenient thing to do is to remove the minor from his family home or school and transfer him to the residential services for minors. What is mainly sought is that the minor has minimal contact with the abuse and that he is not exposed to other similar situations.
- Tracing: Following up on the case is very important when making new decisions or rectifying them with the main objective of achieving the best welfare of the minor.
The most important thing is prevention, therefore, in this article we explain how to prevent child abuse.
This article is merely informative, in 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.
