What is C

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Edition Nº 001

PSYCHOLOGY NEWS

…CHILD ABUSE?

Understanding NeglectPage 3

Child sexual

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PSYCHOLOGY NEWS

It shouldn't hurt to be a kid....Child abuse is physical -- shaking, hitting, beating, burning, or biting a child.

• Child abuse is emotional -- constantly blaming or putting down a child; excessive yelling, shaming.

• Child abuse is sexual -- incest, any forced sexual activity, exposure to sexual stimulation not appropriate for the child's age.

• Child abuse is neglect -- a pattern of failure to provide for the child's physical needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical care; a pattern of failure to provide for the child's emotional needs, such as affection,

attention, and supervision.

What are the Consequences of Child Abuse?•In an abusive environment, children are often expected to behave as if they are much older than they are.

•Children are often "punished" for behavior they are too young to control.•Abusive parents do not know they have to teach the behavior they want the child to have. Punishing unwanted behavior is not enough.•Parents and caretakers often abuse children in response to their own anger and unhappiness. It may have no relationship to what the child is doing at the time.Abused children:

Believe that they have no value.

Believe that they cannot affect the world around them with good behavior.feel angry and/or depressed.

… CHiLD ABUSE?

Did You Know...Child abuse prevention costs only a fraction of the millions of dollars currently needed to respond after a child has been abused.In some countries receives well over 20,000 reports of child abuse every year.Child abuse occurs in every age group, every race, every religion and every economic group. No community is untouched.

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PSYCHOLOGY NEWS

Understanding Neglect Child neglect—a very common type of child

abuse—is a pattern of failing to provide for a child's basic needs, whether it be adequate food, clothing, hygiene, or supervision. Child neglect is not always easy to spot. Sometimes, a parent might become physically or mentally unable to care for a child, such as with a serious injury, untreated depression, or anxiety. Other times, alcohol or drug abuse may seriously impair judgment and the ability to keep a child safe.Older children might not show outward signs of neglect, becoming used to presenting a competent face to the outside world, and even taking on the role of the parent. But at the end of the day, neglected children are not getting their physical and emotional needs met.

Warning signs of neglect in childrenClothes are ill-fitting, filthy, or inappropriate for the weather. Hygiene is consistently bad (unbathed, matted and unwashed hair, noticeable body odor). Untreated illnesses and physical injuries. Is frequently unsupervised or left alone or allowed to play in unsafe situations and environments. Is frequently late or missing from school.

Failure to continue to get help for a child who is not doing well or who is improperly cared for may be interpreted as another form of neglect. This can result in criminal action or action by child protective services that may result in children being removed from the home and placed in foster care. This effort to seek help often falls on agencies that are fundamentally incapable of providing help due to lack of money and resources. This can be frustrating and exasperating. These feelings can lead to giving up efforts to get help. This sense of futility must be overcome and continued efforts expended either through repeated requests or by seeking out other people who may be able to help (family and friends). Emotional neglect is a condition in which children do not get adequate attention from their parents or guardians.With mild forms of emotional neglect, children can develop rebellious behaviors or become alienated from their parents. In more severe cases of emotional neglect, especially with babies or very young children, neglect can result in very abnormal behaviors.Parents who recognize any of these problems can avoid the consequences of emotional neglect through parental training courses, reading, and effort. Children need to be shown that they are cared about and that you are aware of their need to be loved as they grow up.

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Is a non-accidental trauma or physical injury caused by punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning or otherwise harming a child, physical abuse is the most visible form of child maltreatment.Many times, physical abuse results from inappropriate or excessive physical discipline. A parent or caretaker in anger may be unaware of the magnitude of force with which he or she strikes the child.Other factors that can contribute to child abuse include parents’ immaturity, lack of parenting skills, poor childhood experiences and social isolation, as well as frequent crisis situations, drug or alcohol problems and domestic violence.

The physical signs of child abuse used to be called battered child syndrome. This syndrome referred to many fractures that occurred at different times in children too young to have received them from an accident. The definition of child abuse has since been expanded.

Physical child abuse effects vary from child to child, depending on six factors:»   severity of the physical abuse»   frequency of the physical abuse»   age of the child when physical abuse began»   child's relationship to the abuser»   availability of support persons»   child's ability to cope

Severity of the physical abuse: How hard a child is struck is only one aspect of severity. The implement the child is struck with is also a factor. This does not mean that using an open hand or fist will result in fewer or lesser effects; the harm done to the child is measured both by physical injury and emotional injury.

Child's relationship to the abuser: When a child has a very close relationship with his/her abuser, the feelings of betrayal are that much greater; the very person who is supposed to protect is instead hurting that child.

What Is ChildPhysical

Abuse?

PSYCHOLOGY NEWS

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Under the law, "child sexual abuse" is an umbrella term describing criminal and civil offenses in which an adult engages in sexual activity with a minor or exploits a minor for the purpose of sexual gratification. The American Psychiatric Association states that "children cannot consent to sexual activity with adults", and condemns any such action by an adult: "An adult who engages in sexual activity with a child is performing a criminal and immoral act which never can be considered normal or socially acceptable behavior

PSYCHOLOGY NEWS

Is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), indecent exposure (of the genitals, female nipples, etc.) to a child with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to intimidate or groom the child, physical sexual contact with a child, or

using a child to produce child pornography.The effects of child sexual abuse can include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder,

anxiety, propensity to further victimization in adulthood, and physical injury to the child, among other problems. Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest, and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest.

• Rejecting. This is an active refusal to respond to a child’s needs (e.g., refusing to touch a child, denying the needs of a child, ridiculing a child).• Isolating. The parent or caregiver consistently prevents the child from having normal social interactions with peers, family members and adults. • Exploiting or corrupting. In this kind of abuse, a child is taught, encouraged or forced to develop inappropriate or illegal behaviors. • Verbally assaulting. This involves constantly belittling, shaming, ridiculing or verbally threatening the child.Terrorizing: the parent or caregiver threatens or bullies the child and

creates a climate of fear for the child. Terrorizing can include placing the child or the child’s loved one (such as a sibling, pet or toy) in a dangerous or chaotic situation.Neglecting the child. This abuse may include educational neglect, where a parent or caregiver fails or refuses to provide the child with necessary educational services; mental health neglect, where the parent or caregiver denies or ignores a child’s need for treatment for psychological problems; or medical neglect, where a parent or caregiver denies or ignores a child’s need for treatment for medical problems.

Psychological abuse, emotional abuse or mental abuse, is commonly defined as a pattern of behavior by parents or caregivers that can seriously interfere with a child’s cognitive, emotional, psychological or social development. Emotional abuse of a child (also referred to as psychological maltreatment) can include:• Ignoring. Either physically or psychologically, the parent or caregiver is not present to respond to the child.

Child abuse Psicosexual

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A middle-aged woman walked into my office, took a seat and asked, "Is it possible for me to have been a victim of child abuse if I was never beaten or molested? I responded, "yes" and asked why she asked. She described herself as being frequently depressed and unable to feel good about herself. She said that she felt that she did not know who she was, or what her purpose in life was. She said that her parents were good, strict parents and that, in all honesty, she had no right to feel badly about herself. "After all," she added, "worse things have happened to other people."

I thought that there had to be a reason for her asking her original question even though she insisted that she had a wonderful upbringing. I asked her what her parents' attitude had been like towards her. She said that in her home children were "seen and not heard." She recalled being the "good girl" in the family who always followed the rules. When I asked her what happened if she didn't follow the rules, she said that she never dared rebel but that she often saw her siblings publicly humiliated; they were frequently called "imbecile," "dummy," or "useless."She said that it made her feel afraid, even when she was not the one in trouble. When I asked her what she thought of this tactic, she stated that she knew that her parents did the best that they could. She said that her parents were simply trying to teach all the children the "ways of right and wrong" so that they would grow up to be "disciplined and successful adults."

It’s not a Fiction.. It’s Real Life.

When I gently suggested that it may be beneficial that she try to begin to look more at her past and how it may be keeping her from fulfilling her dreams in the present,she said that she was wrong for having come in and that blaming her parents was an ungrateful and disrespectful act. I explained that the goal of therapy is to understand what happened so that she could be as accepting of herself as she was of others.

When I asked her if she felt angry about how she and her siblings were treated, she replied, "No, we weren't really allowed to get angry. Anger just makes things worse. Besides, I've always been much too sensitive about things.“ It seemed to me that as the "good girl" she even felt guilty questioning her parents as she spoke to me. She spoke in a polite, soft tone, qualified nearly everything that she said, and reminded me several times about her parents' good intentions.

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What is particularly insidious about this form of abuse is that the child victim and the adult survivor often have no idea "what hit them." There are no memories and no physical evidence of being beaten, molested, or abused because the bruises and scars are invisible. It is the soul that is injured.Part of being a child is to naturally trust one's parents or caretakers and assume that if the adult says, "this is for your own good," it truly is. Even as adults, therefore, victims of psychological maltreatment often find it difficult to trust their own judgment since an integral part of the abuse was reinforcing that they didn't know what was best for them. Many children and adults simply accept the blame and think that they are the problem and are crazy, bad, or worthless.

By: August 1996 By Dr. Stacy Becker 

Therapy is never about blame. It's about understanding, healing and growing. This example illustrates one way in which psychological maltreatment had adversely impacted the life of a woman. There are many types of psychological maltreatment and just as many ways that it impacts the emotional, social, and intellectual development of individuals. In this case, although her parents had, perhaps, acted in ways that they felt would be in the best interest of their children, this woman had learned how to "be good" at the expense of learning who she was, what she wanted, and how to express her own feelings. Maybe she was depressed because she was too afraid to take chances and risk making an error; after all, in her family, making an error meant taking the chance of being devastated by humiliation and ridicule.

They discredit their own reactions and feelings so that their perceptions match what they are told to think or feel. They often conclude that had they been better, smarter, or more obedient, their parents would have been more loving, supportive, or proud of them. Unfortunately, depression and low self esteem are natural consequences of this process. The good news is: this is treatable. Therapy can bring relief and a new sense of purpose.

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1. Abuse2. Physical3. Child4. Violence5. Sexual6. Emotional

CROSSWORDS

We are Psychology students of 2nd Trimester in the University National Yacambú.During the elaboration of the magazine, we share in the facilities of the university, looking for creative ideas for the magazine.Writers: • Luscelys Oliveros• Maria Angelica Saez• Herliz Suarez

Bibliography

•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_abuse• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Child_sexual_abuse• http://www.emedicinehealth.com/

child_abuse/page2_em.htm• http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/fact-sheets/child-physical-

abuse.html• http://www.yesican.org/articles/article1-

1.html

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