Childhood Emotional Neglect: How It Can Impact You Now and Later
The first thing that needs to be mentioned is that there are many different types of emotional neglect. There are physical, sexual abuse, parental alienation, financial deprivation, neglectful parenting, etc. All these forms of emotional neglect have their own symptoms and causes. Some of them may not even affect the child physically or mentally, but they still cause psychological damage.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse includes hitting, kicking, burning with cigarettes and other objects, throwing things at the child’s head and so on. Physical abuse often results in long term effects such as anxiety disorders, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), nightmares and flashbacks. It affects the brain development negatively which leads to problems later in life like depression and anxiety issues.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse refers to any type of unwanted touching or sexual behavior directed towards a child without his/her consent. Sexual abuse can include anything from kissing, fondling, groping, exposing genitals and so on. It affects the mind and body negatively leading to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety issues. The effect of sexual abuse may last throughout the rest of one’s life or it may disappear after some time depending upon the severity of the act.
Parental Alienation
In parental alienation the child is manipulated into believing that one parent is bad or evil. It is a very common problem in child custody situations. The child may be told bad things about the parent to make them dislike them. This may also include sending the child to certain camps or programs where such ideas are reinforced and drilled into the child’s head.
Financial Deprivation
When a child is deprived of financial resources it can have several effects on them. If a teenager or an adult is deprived of financial resources, they may learn to be more responsible with their finances. However, if a child is deprived of such resources, they may not learn the importance of money and instead lead their whole life spending without any regards to their future.
Neglectful Parenting
Neglectful parenting involves a parent or guardian completely abandoning their responsibilities towards the child or not giving them adequate attention, guidance and support that they need. This type of emotional abuse can have very serious consequences on a child’s mental health.
Emotional Neglect
Emotional neglect refers to the parents or guardians completely ignoring the emotional needs of the child. This can be in the form of parents not showing love, care or concern for the child. Alternatively, it can also involve parents being psychologically abusive towards the child. In such cases, the child is often called names and berated on a regular basis. This type of emotional abuse can have long term effects on one’s mental health.
How Does Childhood Emotional Neglect Happen?
Most people do not realize that they are emotionally neglecting their children. They are completely unaware of the fact that their ways of bringing up a child are very different from what is considered to be normal. In most cases, emotional neglect is caused by parents who follow an extreme philosophy of parenting.
Such parents tend to believe that children should be brought up with no help or guidance from others. According to them, children should be allowed to find things out by themselves and not be spoon fed knowledge all the time. As a result, they completely ignore their children or avoid interacting with them.
Such extreme forms of neglect are very rare in Western cultures, but they do exist. When such cases come to the attention of social services, the children are taken away from their parents and put under foster care. While such parents often show little or no signs of remorse for their actions, they rarely try to defend their position.
What Are the Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect?
The effects of childhood emotional neglect are more serious than other types of abuse. Since the parents fail to provide any kind of guidance to their children, these children grow up without a sense of direction in their lives. They rarely make anything of their lives and have a very bleak future ahead of them.
As far as their mental health is concerned, such children often end up with severe psychological problems. Most of them end up with very low self esteem and see themselves as completely useless individuals. Others turn out to be mentally unstable and some become so depressed that they even consider committing suicide.
Turning The Tide
If you have suffered from any form of childhood emotional neglect, it is never too late to turn your life around. The first thing that you must realize is that your parents are to blame for your current situation. It is not your fault and you did not deserve such treatment. However, the damage has been done and you will have to do a lot of introspection and soul searching to overcome the scars of the past.
There is hope though. By seeking professional help, you can learn how to turn your life around and live a much happier existence. Be sure to seek help sooner rather than later. Delaying the treatment can worsen your condition and make it much harder to recover. Talk to a therapist and explain your situation to him.
With his help, you can travel the road to recovery.
Getting over your past is not an easy process, but it is definitely a possible one. If you seek help, anything is possible. You can learn to forgive your parents and move on with your life. Above all, you must realize that it was not your fault.
More information on Childhood Emotional Neglect:
Stop Child Abuse Now – Information on emotional neglect and physical abuse.
HealthyPlace – An online resource with a lot of info on childhood emotional neglect.
Childhood Emotional Neglect Summary
What Is Childhood Emotional Neglect?
Childhood emotional neglect is a condition in which a child or children grow up without the love, care and attention that they require. Instead, these children are subjected to an environment in which they feel unloved, uncared for and unworthy of anything. The parents are often oblivious to their behavior and remain indifferent to the harm that it causes to their children. Childhood emotional neglect is a very serious form of abuse and can lead to very serious consequences in the future.
What Are The Effects Of Childhood Emotional Neglect?
The effects of childhood emotional neglect are more serious than other types of abuse such as physical or sexual abuse. The effects are mainly psychological and manifest themselves later in life. The main effects of such abuse are low self esteem, lack of motivation and direction, depression and a host of related problems.
How Can I Overcome The Effects Of Childhood Emotional Neglect?
There is a lot that you can do on your own to overcome the effects of childhood emotional neglect. One of the most important things is to seek help. Talk to a therapist and share your feelings. The therapist can then help you in taking the necessary steps to recover. Childhood emotional neglect is not your fault. Seek help now.
