What Is Child Abuse?

Annually child abuse reports are made involving more than six million children in a given year, between four and seven of those children fall victims in child abuse related deaths each day. In the U.S. we hold the record for the most child abuse deaths among industrialized nations as well as the nation with the most citizens have and can obtain prescriptions for depression and anti-anxiety medications at any given time. With an entire economy being built off of these prescription drugs why isn’t more done to resolve and better understand what may be a possible underlying cause of people ending up with these psychological and emotional problems. It is an interesting correlation that “as many as two-thirds of people in treatment for drug abuse …show more content…
The downside that is specific to emotional and psychological abuse is that when it is occurring there are no marks, scratches, or bruises left, which is why it commonly goes undetected. Social workers are experts at detecting physical and sexual abuse based on the visually obvious marks on a child. When it comes to emotional and psychological abuse though, social workers have a tough job and must be very in-tune to not only the child’s behavior but the parents as well as these are the only things that can help emotional and psychologically abused children. Signs of emotionally and psychologically abused children include things like “being fearful of the parent, saying they hate the parent, talking badly about themselves, seeming emotionally immature when compared to peers, exhibiting sudden changes in speech such as stuttering, and experiencing sudden change in behavior, such as doing poorly in school” (Child Abuse Statistics). Signs that are usually present in an abusive parent or caregiver are “showing little or no regard for the child, talking badly about the child, not touching or holding the child affectionately, and not tending to the child’s medical needs” (Childhood Psychological Abuse Has Long-Lasting Impact). Sometimes all of the signs are obvious in a child and the parent and sometimes very few to none of the signs can be present when there is emotional and psychological abuse occurring. Something as small as not being supportive, …show more content…
The APA report confirms that “Children who are neglected face similar and sometimes worse mental health problems as children who are physically or sexually abused, yet psychological abuse is rarely addressed in prevention programs or in treating victims” (Childhood Psychological Abuse as Harmful as Sexual or Physical Abuse). Child abuse in any form is ugly but continues to be a vicious cycle. Logically speaking it is simple to understand that these abused children will eventually grow up and how they deal with any form of abuse that they endure while