Psychological Effects Of Emotional Abuse On Children

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When the word abuse is used, people mostly think about physical abuse, but there is also emotional abuse. Emotional abuse is when someone exposes another to behavior that may result in psychological trauma. The ones most affected by emotional abuse are children. The thought of any child being emotionally abused is unpleasant, nevertheless it does happen, and often. Sometimes parents and legal guardians do not realize they are being abusive to the child or children. Emotional abuse can be rejecting, isolating, exploiting, verbally assaulting, terrorizing, ignoring, and neglecting a child. Adolescents who experience emotional abuse can have effects like developmental and learning delays, poor self-esteem, destructive behaviors, and even have effects into their adulthood. Child exploitation is always devastating. While physical abuse can be seen and will heal, emotional abuse is hidden and is never clear how it will affect each individual child. Some children are able to handle and move on from the horrific experience, while others can sink into a depression and have issues for the rest of their lives. Also, it is not uncommon for children who have been emotionally abused to have effects of developmental delays and trouble learning in school. Some effects of emotional abuse are lower grades and having a harder time, …show more content…

An adolescent who has been emotionally abused might see herself as not good enough, ugly, fat, stupid, or even unwanted. Feeling this way can cause extreme depression and poor choices. Some of these choices can be detrimental to themselves. Examples of these destructive behaviors are skipping school, having sex at a young age, underage drinking, smoking cigarettes, experimenting with drugs, physically hurting themselves, bullying others, and sometimes even eating disorders. Many juveniles who steal and vandalize come from abusive