How Child Psychology Is Affected

Child Abuse

Key Words: Child Abuse, Psychological harm, Physical injury.

Mistreatment of children by way of physical violence or psychological /emotional behaviour is called child abuse.

The trauma on the inflicted child effects the normal, physical and mental development of the child.

Child abuse can be caused either by

1] Psychological harm

2] Physical injury.

Psychological harm from child abuse means

a) Neglect during childhood by not providing for the basic amenities by the parent be it food, clothing or shelter. Failure in providing education or medication also affects the child. They feel they are unwanted in this world. Fights between parents too can add up to the child's fears.

b) Blaming the child on every chance, constant shouting on the child, giving punishments like tying to a chair, locking up in a room, unnecessarily threatening the child leads to the child getting mentally upset and hating the offenders. This is called emotional abuse.

Physical injury from child abuse means

a) The violence inflicted on a child. This means bodily shaking, choking, hitting, bruising and torturing. The offenders here could be mainly parents and to some extent, teachers and principal of a school or by gangsters kidnapping children for ransom or to sell them for begging as done in some poor countries.

b) The other abuse is the child sexual abuse. (the other type of child abuse is sexual exploitation.) This could be by way of rubbing/touching the child's private parts, exposing his/her body to the child, forcing the child to have sex or to take indecent porno pictures. Main offenders here are mostly relatives of the child or close friends. Men and women both are equal offenders.

There are quite a few causes for child abuse.

Stress at work place, fights with spouse, financial

worries can make the adult either neglect the

child or turn him offensive.

Drug addicts and alcoholics too resort to physical

injury when high.

A person who himself was a victim in his

childhood may take revenge on his offender's

family or anybody in general.