Have you ever felt completely alone? So alone, you thought no one cared about what happened to you? Ever wondered if the people supposed to protect and care for you even knew you? So far we’ve taken a cursory glance at child abuse overall and a closer look at child sexual abuse. Another kind of abuse, accounting for 7.3% of child abuse cases, is emotional abuse. Emotional abuse is the most difficult abuse to identify. So, what is emotional child abuse?

Imagine the pain of being completely alone. Ever been separated from your mom in a grocery store as a young child? Imagine the panic you felt. Now, imagine that feeling being with you every moment of every day. These are the kind of feelings emotionally abused children face.

What is Emotional Abuse?

As we mentioned in the article “Child Abuse Defined,” emotional abuse is defined as “a recurring pattern of behavior in which a parent or caregiver harms a child’s mental or social development, or causes severe emotional harm.” Emotional abuse is rarely a one-time occurrence, but often a recurring pattern. This type of abuse can take on several forms: rejection, terrorization, isolation, corruption, verbal assault, and overpressuring.

Forms of Emotional Abuse

Rejection occurs when a caregiver denies a child’s worth and/or the validity of the child’s needs.

Another type of emotional abuse is isolation: making a child feel alone. This can include preventing a child from forming friendships, or from engaging in normal social activities.

Terrorizing is when a caregiver inflicts fear in a child by bullying or frightening them.

Ignoring a child and depriving them of essential stimulation and attention is also abuse.

Corrupting is when an adult grooms a child for destructive or antisocial behaviors, and prevents them from interacting with society in a normal behavioral fashion.

Verbal assault includes name-calling, threats, and excessive sarcasm that tears down the child’s self-esteem.

Sometimes parents put to much pressure on children. This can also be emotional abuse.

Over-pressuring a child to do something that is far beyond their abilities causes much emotional harm.

Abuse always causes long-lasting emotional harm. However, emotional abuse can result in long-term learning difficulties and disruptive behaviors, as well as physical and mental health issues.

So what does emotional abuse look like? As with the other types of abuse we’ve looked at, there are signs exhibited in children and caregivers that allow others to see what may be going on. Let’s take a look.

Signs of Emotional Abuse in a Caregiver Include

• Routinely ignoring a child
• Constantly criticizing, yelling, or blaming a child
• Playing favorites with one sibling over another
• Poor anger management
• Stormy relationships with other adults
• Disrespect for authority
• History of violence or abuse
• Untreated mental illness, alcoholism, or substance abuse

As we’ve seen before, signs of abuse can be seen in children both physically and behaviorally.

Signs of Emotional Abuse in a Child

Physical signs:

• Delays in development
• Wetting bed or pants
• Speech disorders
• Health problems like ulcers, skin disorders
• Obesity and weight fluctuation

Behavioral Signs:

• Habits like sucking, biting, rocking
• Learning Disabilities and developmental delays
• Overly compliant or defensive
• Extreme emotions, aggression, withdrawal
• Anxieties, phobias, sleep disorders
• Destructive or anti-social behaviors
• Behavior that is inappropriate for age
• Suicidal thoughts

Emotional abuse, not unlike other forms of abuse, often stems from a heritage of abuse and/or broken relationships. In order to stop such abuse, a cycle has to be broken. While it may seem strange, the victim of emotional abuse may not be the only one hurting. Especially with emotional abuse, abusers are often hurting and their abuse is a form of retaliation.

1. Because of this, one of the first steps to preventing emotional abuse is raising awareness. People need to know what emotional abuse is and why it happens.
2. The next step is for communities and individuals to be supportive of parents and families. It is important for parents to learn and be encouraged to form strong bonds with their children. If parents in any stage of parenting have not had a good role model to follow, they might not be sure how to form healthy, loving relationships with their children. This causes dysfunction in the family and can often lead to emotional abuse
3. Finally, parents or caregivers should seek help if they are dealing with something such as depression, anxiety, alcoholism, or drug addiction that might cause them to abuse a child emotionally or in any other way.

Emotional abuse is the hardest form of abuse to prove. However, as with the other types of abuse we have looked at, suspicion is grounds for reporting. If you suspect emotional abuse, report it and allow child protection services to do the investigating.

Hotline number: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)
GA hotline number: 1-855-GA-CHILD (1-855-422-4453)

Written by Hannah Wilson
Edited by Marquetta Smith, Executive Director of Safe Harbor International Ministries

Sources:
https://americanspcc.org/emotional-child-abuse/
https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse/
http://www.eschooltoday.com/child-abuse/emotional-child-abuse/emotional-child-abuse-prevention-tips.html
https://preventchildabuse.org/resource/preventing-emotional-abuse/