Until relatively recently, mental abuse was not taken as seriously as physical abuse, even though its effects can be devastating. This was partly due to the fact that emotional abuse is harder to spot than physical abuse. Although mental abuse can occur between employer and employee, between spouses and between unmarried couples, the mental abuse of a child by an adult is particularly common, simply because children seldom have access to effective means of self-defense.
Definition
The Florida Center for Parental Involvement defines mental abuse of a child as "maltreatment which results in impaired psychological growth and development" involving verbal abuse, behavior and indifference. Abusers often ignore, belittle, insult, criticize, dominate and reject their victims. Mental abuse may or may not be accompanied by physical abuse.
Abuser Profile
Abusers of any sort, whether they abuse children, family members or others, tend to have low self-esteem and high incidence of depression, according to Leah Davies, educational consultant and best-selling author. To outsiders they may seem self-confident to the point of arrogance. Their personalities are characterized by poor impulse control and low tolerance for frustration, which frequently results in substance abuse or other mental health problems.
Types of Emotional Abuse
Mental abuse can be divided into two different types---verbal abuse and emotional abuse. Verbal abuse includes constant criticism over petty matters, threatening, blaming and name-calling. The abuser may mock the child or blame him for all the abuser's problems. Emotional abuse includes indifference and rejection, display of an attitude of thinly veiled contempt, withholding of affection and approval, isolating the child to prevent him from forming normal friendships or outside contacts, or exploiting the child by involving him in activities such as drug dealing, theft or prostitution.
Signs of Abuse
A number of characteristics may be exhibited by children who are current victims of mental abuse, according to Steven W. Kairys and Charles F. Johnson of the Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect . These include a poor self-image, difficulty in trusting others, withdrawal, anxiety, depression, fear, submissiveness, difficulty forming friendships with other children, exaggerated fear of authority, aggressiveness and bullying behavior, speech disorders, academic problems, and suicide attempts.
Long-Term Effects
According to a study led by Martin Teicher, director of the Developmental Biopsychiatry Research Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, adult victims of verbal abuse tend to have significantly higher rates of depression, anger and dissociative symptoms such as selective amnesia than other adults, and even higher than victims of physical abuse. Long-term effects of emotional abuse include low self-esteem and feelings of guilt, shame and worthlessness, suicidal thoughts, psychosomatic health problems, and inability to form family relationships.
