The invisible scars of emotional abuse: a common and highly harmful form of childhood maltreatment

Abstract

Background Childhood maltreatment (CM) is unfortunately widespread globally and has been linked with an increased risk of a variety of psychiatric disorders in adults, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These associations are well established in the literature for some maltreatment forms, such as sexual and physical abuse. However, the effects of emotional maltreatment are much less explored, even though this type figures among the most common forms of childhood maltreatment. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the impact of each type of childhood maltreatment, both individually and conjointly, on revictimization and PTSD symptom severity using a nonclinical college student sample. Methods Five hundred and two graduate and undergraduate students participated in the study by completing questionnaires assessing lifetime traumatic experiences in general, maltreatment during childhood and PTSD symptoms. Bivariate and multivariate negative binomial regressions were applied to examine the associations among childhood maltreatment, revictimization, and PTSD symptom severity. Results Our results showed that using bivariate models, all types of CM were significantly associated with revictimization and PTSD symptom severity. Multivariate models showed that emotional abuse was the type of maltreatment associated with the highest incidence rates of revictimization and PTSD symptom severity. Conclusions These data provide additional evidence of the harmful effects of childhood maltreatment and its long-term consequences for individuals’ mental health. Notably, the findings highlight the importance of studying the impacts of emotional abuse, which seems to be a highly prevalent, understudied, and chronic form of maltreatment that is as toxic as other maltreatment forms.

Tonic Immobility is Associated with PTSD Symptoms in Traumatized Adolescents

“…2,3 In addition, a very recent paper from our group showed that childhood maltreatment is predictive of revictimization, which refers to the exposure of individuals who were victimized during childhood to subsequent traumatic events. 4 According to DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition), traumatic events involve exposure to real or threatening death events, serious injury, or sexual violence. 5 Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common disorders associated with exposure to violence.…”

Childhood Emotional Abuse Is Associated With the Desire to Get Married and Have Children in Korean Young Adults

“…31 Emotional abuse is also reported to be the strongest predictor of emotion dysregulation and adulthood PTSD symptoms, among all the types of childhood abuse. 32,33 Furthermore, emotional abuse was associated mostly with attempted suicide and depressive disorders. 34,35 Emotional abuse may be the most damaging form among other types of childhood maltreatment.…”

“…Previous studies have suggested that childhood emotional abuse had a greater impact on interpersonal problems in adult patients than childhood physical abuse [ 31 ]. Emotional abuse is also reported to be the strongest predictor of emotion dysregulation and adulthood PTSD symptoms, among all the types of childhood abuse [ 32 , 33 ]. Furthermore, emotional abuse was associated mostly with attempted suicide and depressive disorders [ 34 , 35 ].…”

Intergenerational trauma: Parental PTSD and parent‐reported child abuse subtypes differentially relate to admission characteristics in the autism inpatient collection

“…Parent-reported child abuse subtypes and parent PTSD were differentially associated with the three outcome domains examined in the current study. First, regarding child behavior, when main effects were considered independently, parent-reported child emotional abuse, but not physical abuse, was associated with child behavior, supporting the need to consider emotional abuse in future research, a subtype that has been understudied in maltreatment research (Gama et al, 2021). This finding may be consistent with prior research showing that emotional abuse (without exposure to physical or sexual abuse) is uniquely related to lower attachment and negative maternal representations (Pickreign Stronach et al, 2011), both of which may relate to increased behavioral concerns, especially those that may be reported by caregivers (behavioral problems were parent-reported in the current study).…”

“…Similarly, identifying whether certain abuse subtypes or dimensions of abuse differentially relate to child or family outcomes is important for understanding the correlates of different forms of child maltreatment, and for designing related intervention efforts that can be more precisely delivered to the specific types of abuse a youth has experienced. Compared to physical and sexual abuse, emotional abuse is underrecognized and understudied (Gama et al, 2021). Emotional abuse broadly refers to extreme failure to meet or thwarting of children's basic emotional needs (e.g., psychological safety, self-esteem, age-appropriate autonomy; examples include ridiculing/ extreme criticism of the child, exposure to interpersonal violence or suicidality/homicidality in the home, abandonment, etc.…”