Psychological Effects of Child Maltreatment

         

The Psychological Effects of Child Abuse

The effects of child abuse and neglect are noted to be sensitive and provocative. These attribute to their nature embedding multifaceted and perpetual characteristics that cause pervasive and chronic setbacks in children in terms of psychological, social, cognitive and indirect economic effects. While not in all cases of neglect and abuse result to a uniform degree, the scale of these effects depend on how families and societies remain unaware or able to cope into positive transition amid the inherent causes and effects, and seem to remain unrealized in ways without knowledge to social and economic implications and impairment that cost governments to subsidize them.  From varying degrees and forms associated to common household, marital or parental conflicts and disintegration, to the actual and severe forms of emotional or sexual abuse in children, constitute an equitable degree of adversity on social and economic impacts that potentially lead to social and economic disintegration in the national levels while the difficulty to measure in these respects are scant.

To stress these effects should invite to effectuate perpetual guidance for parents and guardians and focus on preventive measures which are the most common sources for such potential abuses. Child formation by a parent is a monumental task which requires the proper implementation of a great deal of discipline, patience and tolerance in time and tone sensitive manners even parents show an adverse act  for a good cause contrary to the eyes of the public or within social normal bounds. Yet deviations from these factors and mannerisms may result to the psychological, mental, physical and neurological effects in a child from abuse bouncing back to them as parents a reflective, negative impression pervading into escalating scales if not properly resolved or detected with due diligence within the formative stages of child development. For the long term, should these effects persist without proper due care, the problems persist into social problems with undue cost on the part of the child’s entire life or his or her disposition as a valuable citizen toward society is held at stake dealing with the intricacies of social and economic development.

The following factors describe in manifest into account these effects:

Physical and Mental Health Consequences: The shaken baby syndrome is a form of abuse inflicted upon infants resulting to physiological side effects but is not discountable to the long term and the degree of effects in terms of the psychological or physiological impairment they risk to experience, as follows: vomiting, concussions, respiration distress, seizures and death. Long term effects perpetuate to an extent by which result to blindness, learning disability, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and even death. Neglect, on the other hand, results to salient and periodical recurrences of mental or physical problems that result to a chronic term in some instances. Impaired brain development onsets as created by these abuses befall some important regions of the brain resulting to constricted emotional, physical and mental development, Hyper arousal factors occur in severe cases of abuse resulting to undue brain hyperactivity disorders or any forms impressing hyperactivity modes, sleep disturbances and posttraumatic stress disorders, attention deficit disorders and learning and memory difficulties (NAIC, 2005, pp. 2-3).

Behavioral Consequences: The behavioral aspect as a result of child abuse exhibits manifestations in form of avoidance in accommodating close relationships among family members as a result of parental abuse. This, in turn, ends intimacy as a perceived threat instead of a binding characteristic. Children display this type of behavior through withdrawal, refusing eye contact, hyperactivity and aggression towards other people not necessarily the abusive parent but who exhibit good natured thoughts, expressions or actions that in return are taken negatively. Psychological theory points out the critical aspect compounding social and emotional development in a child’s stage through nurturing or fostering a parent-child relationship in the early stages of child development that success in it ensures the child’s ability to nurture long lasting relationships with others, in particular to peers their age group. Therefore, their disability in return reflects a clear implication that bears on a parents’ responsibility of establishing emotional skills undue on the child’s end (Lowenthal, n.d., p.3).

Affect Deregulation: Repetitive modes of repugnant and upsetting attitudes associated to the maltreatment surfaces to deny or control a child’s true feelings with conceit. Out of this, to detect their inhibitions within this context only entail through indirect responses or body language or through physiological manifestations as negative reactions to those feelings exhibited. Affect deregulation can also affect the attachment process in a child’s life stage when the role of parents in shaping a child’s social behavior is undefined and acts as an indicator for a child’s ability in their test to cope up life adversity factors such as stress, regulating emotions, the ability to benefit from social groups and to nurture long term relationships (Lowenthal, n.d., p. 3). As an added effect to this aspect, the potential to empower dissociation which hover their painful experiences distinct over proactive social awareness. This incapability may result isolation from peers and surfaces that impair self-identity leading to sexual identity imbalances.

Effects on Cognition and Learning: Accounted dysfunctional parent-child or guardian-child relationships end up with poor performance in school activities. Inversely, parents or guardians who foster positive relationships show positive school achievement. This attributes to the aspect that positive feedbacks and encouragement received from parents under negative circumstances like performance distress in school activities which do not happen to bear on parent-child relationships tend to pursue towards proactive academic achievement by parental motivation. Therefore the lack of constant motivation entrusted to parents and throughout the guidance process during a child’s academic tenure is critical to enable their capability to adjust effectively in changing environments and challenges and continually strive towards greater heights of achievement and life success (Lowenthal, n.d., p.4).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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