The Hidden Epidemic
A girl is walking down a street with cuts and scrapes on her arms and face with bruises covering her body. One might think she might of fallen off a tree or playing too rough. This, in many cases is what happened but, in many cases this isn’t what actually happened. The child has been abused at home by her parents. In today’s society we often pass this conclusion up because we don’t believe it could really happen. According to The American Humane Association a child is being abused at home every 10 seconds. Penalties for this crime are justified but we need to become more aware of this epidemic, how to treat a child that has been through abuse, and how to make sure the statistics for abuse go down. People must be educated …show more content…
This is the most severe type of abuse in my opinion. In the book Breaking the Deadly Embrace of Child Abuse, the author, Jorgensen, gives the clearest definition for emotional abuse. What is emotional abuse? "Consists of actions on the part of the parents or caretakers that are depreciating of the child, make the child fearful, stop the developmental processes, or result in emotional disturbance" (Jorgensen 27). Emotional abuse is often passed up as child abuse because it does not leave any scars. But in reality, it leaves the victim with the worst impacts, psychological disorders. This is the source of all the parent 's abusive behavior, parents blame the child for their actions, "She wouldn 't stop crying, I just screamed at her." Moving on to personality disorders that emotional abuse causes. What is a personality disorder? The dictionary defines this as long term difficulties on personal relationships or functioning in society. Which then leads to emotional disturbance. The effects of this are inability to learn, cannot build relationships, inappropriate behavior in normal circumstances, uncontrollable mood swings, and develop physical symptoms such as fear or intense anxiety. How does emotional abuse work? Ignoring. The caregiver is completely distant from their own child. The parent refuses to call the child by their name or even look at the child. Rejection. Refusing to praise the child and even love the child. Corrupting. …show more content…
They have learned not to trust anyone who tries to get close with them. "To understand the child 's experience with abuse, we have to understand that the child measures his experience inside a vacuum"(Jorgensen 34). The child must learn to accept himself as part of society as they grow older because when they were abused most victims think they deserve the maltreatment they received. They often feel guilty if they receive better treatment and this makes them feel uncomfortable and often frightened. The child will be confused if an outsider tries to help him or her. They again will have that sense of no trust relationship. The child is not as afraid of the abuse as when the abuse will happen. They could be punished, praised, beaten, and ignored for the same behavior. "In a paradoxical way children sometimes behave in ways they know will elicit abuse, simply to do away with the anxiety of not knowing when it will occur"(Jorgensen
A girl is walking down a street with cuts and scrapes on her arms and face with bruises covering her body. One might think she might of fallen off a tree or playing too rough. This, in many cases is what happened but, in many cases this isn’t what actually happened. The child has been abused at home by her parents. In today’s society we often pass this conclusion up because we don’t believe it could really happen. According to The American Humane Association a child is being abused at home every 10 seconds. Penalties for this crime are justified but we need to become more aware of this epidemic, how to treat a child that has been through abuse, and how to make sure the statistics for abuse go down. People must be educated …show more content…
This is the most severe type of abuse in my opinion. In the book Breaking the Deadly Embrace of Child Abuse, the author, Jorgensen, gives the clearest definition for emotional abuse. What is emotional abuse? "Consists of actions on the part of the parents or caretakers that are depreciating of the child, make the child fearful, stop the developmental processes, or result in emotional disturbance" (Jorgensen 27). Emotional abuse is often passed up as child abuse because it does not leave any scars. But in reality, it leaves the victim with the worst impacts, psychological disorders. This is the source of all the parent 's abusive behavior, parents blame the child for their actions, "She wouldn 't stop crying, I just screamed at her." Moving on to personality disorders that emotional abuse causes. What is a personality disorder? The dictionary defines this as long term difficulties on personal relationships or functioning in society. Which then leads to emotional disturbance. The effects of this are inability to learn, cannot build relationships, inappropriate behavior in normal circumstances, uncontrollable mood swings, and develop physical symptoms such as fear or intense anxiety. How does emotional abuse work? Ignoring. The caregiver is completely distant from their own child. The parent refuses to call the child by their name or even look at the child. Rejection. Refusing to praise the child and even love the child. Corrupting. …show more content…
They have learned not to trust anyone who tries to get close with them. "To understand the child 's experience with abuse, we have to understand that the child measures his experience inside a vacuum"(Jorgensen 34). The child must learn to accept himself as part of society as they grow older because when they were abused most victims think they deserve the maltreatment they received. They often feel guilty if they receive better treatment and this makes them feel uncomfortable and often frightened. The child will be confused if an outsider tries to help him or her. They again will have that sense of no trust relationship. The child is not as afraid of the abuse as when the abuse will happen. They could be punished, praised, beaten, and ignored for the same behavior. "In a paradoxical way children sometimes behave in ways they know will elicit abuse, simply to do away with the anxiety of not knowing when it will occur"(Jorgensen