Attorneys and other professionals need to know that the reasons children may want to be with an abusive parent may be based on attachment issues, feelings of shame, psychobiology, and a lack of understanding that they are even in an abusive situation.
They may feel afraid, angry, or sad about what's happened in the home. They may also feel confused because the person who was hurtful was also loving and fun at other times. Many children feel that the abuse was their fault, not the parent's. They may think they have to choose between loving one parent or the other.
The term 'trauma bond' is also known as Stockholm Syndrome. It describes a deep bond which forms between a victim and their abuser. Victims of abuse often develop a strong sense of loyalty towards their abuser, despite the fact that the bond is damaging to them.
Researchers say it's not uncommon for an abusive parent to single out one child as the target of physical violence. This has been called: the “Cinderella Phenomenon.” Another term is “target-child selection.”
Emotional and Physical Consequences of Abuse Having an abusive father has long-term emotional and physical ramifications on a young woman. Emotionally, a woman may develop clinical depression, which includes low self-esteem, poor self-confidence and a sense of worthlessness.
Children and young people who are victims of emotional abuse at the hands of their parents often report the symptoms of severe post-traumatic stress. These are generally even worse than after other forms of child abuse, such as physical abuse.
Further research shows that when taking issues of severity into consideration, fathers or father surrogates are responsible for more severe physical abuse and fatalities than female perpetrators (US Department of Health and Human Services [US DHHS], 2005).
People often assume that abusive people mistreat everyone, but some discriminate in their abuse. It's what experts call the "Cinderella phenomenon," which is when one child in a family is singled out and abused while other children are not.
PTSD symptoms displayed by abused children and young people include learning difficulties, poor behaviour at school, depression and anxiety, aggression, risk-taking and criminal behaviours, emotional numbness, and a range of physical issues including poor sleep and headaches.
The “Cinderella effect”: Elevated mistreatment of stepchildren in comparison to those living with genetic parents. Parents commit a huge amount of time, attention and material resources to the care of their children, as well as incurring life-threatening risks to defend them and bodily depletion to nourish them.
Emotional abuse can affect a child's emotional development, including: feeling, expressing and controlling emotions. lacking confidence or causing anger problems. finding it difficult to make and maintain healthy relationships later in life.
Causes of Emotional Abuse
Abusive parents suffered from parental abuse in their own childhood. Affective disorders, depression, etc. Substance abuse such as alcohol and drug use. Contentious divorce.
"Abused children often grow into adults with poor impulse control, a heightened sense of shame, an over-alertness to threat, easily triggered, with extreme levels of distress that can result in early substance use and mental illness, compounding harms."
Abuse victims are more likely to suffer from depression, substance abuse, broken relationships, chronic diseases, and even obesity. Many of the high-functioning people I hear from who are wrestling with their debt to their parents have struggled with some of these issues.
Exposure to child physical abuse and parents' domestic violence can subject youth to pervasive traumatic stress and lead to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Teicher said some of the most abusive statements are "telling them you wish they were never born or that [your] life would have been so much better if they were never born. Or saying, 'You're never going to be as good as your brother or your cousin. '" Or, "you'll turn out just like your deadbeat dad."
Emotional abuse can lead to C-PTSD, a type of PTSD that involves ongoing trauma. C-PTSD shows many of the same symptoms as PTSD, although its symptoms and causes can differ. Treatment should be tailored to the situation to address the ongoing trauma the person experienced from emotional abuse.
The symptoms include: preoccupation with position in the family, feelings of anxiety, rejection, ineffectiveness, guilt, hostility and exhaustion, loss of self-esteem and overcompensation.
Seventeen percent of the women who had stepfathers in their childhoods had been sexually abused, compared to only 2 percent of those having biological fathers in their childhoods.
Snow White can be classified as having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Princess meets all eight of the criteria listed in the DSM-V to diagnose PTSD (See Appendix A). First, she directly experiences a traumatic event relating to a near death experience (Criterion A1).
Authoritarian Parenting
Mistakes usually lead to punishment. Authoritarian parents are normally less nurturing and have high expectations with limited flexibility. Children that grow up with authoritarian parents will usually be the most well-behaved in the room because of the consequences of misbehaving.
Studies show emotional abuse may be the most damaging form of maltreatment causing adverse developmental consequences equivalent to, or more severe than, those of other forms of abuse (Hart et al. 1996).
Child abuse and neglect are common.
At least 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States. This is likely an underestimate because many cases are unreported.
The Trauma Test is a brief self-administered rating scale. It is useful in determining the degree to which you struggle with the aftermath of trauma, anxiety or depression, nervous system overarousal, and difficulty with healing and recovery.