Part II - Types of Child Abuse

What is emotional child abuse? 

Emotional child abuse is any attitude, behavior, or failure to act that interferes with a child's mental health or social development. It can range from a simple verbal insult to an extreme form of punishment. Emotional abuse is almost always present when another form of abuse is found. Surprisingly, emotional abuse can have more long-lasting negative psychiatric effects than either physical abuse or sexual abuse.

Other names for emotional abuse are:

• Verbal abuse
• Mental abuse
• Psychological maltreatment or psychological abuse

Emotional child abuse can come from adults or from other children:

• Parents or caregivers
• Teachers or athletic coaches
• Siblings
• Bullies at school or elsewhere
• Middle- and high-school girls in social cliques

What is child neglect?

Neglect is a very common type of child abuse. According to Child Welfare Information Gateway, more children suffer from neglect than from physical and sexual abuse combined. Yet victims are not often identified, primarily because neglect is a type of child abuse that is an act of omission - of not doing something.

Some overlap exists between the definitions of emotional abuse and emotional neglect. However, neglect is a pattern of failing to provide for a child's basic needs. A single act of neglect might not be considered child abuse, but repeated neglect is definitely child abuse. There are three basic types of neglect; physical neglect, educational neglect, and emotional neglect.

Physical Neglect	Failure to provide food, clothing appropriate for the weather, supervision, a home that is hygienic and safe, and/or medical care, as needed.
Educational Neglect	Failure to enroll a school-age child in school or to provide necessary special education. This includes allowing excessive absences from school.
Emotional Neglect	Failure to provide emotional support, love, and affection. This includes neglect of the child's emotional needs and failure to provide psychological care, as needed.

Some signs of child neglect:

• Clothing unsuited to the weather.
• Being dirty or unbathed.
• Extreme hunger.
• Apparent lack of supervision.

For more detail on recognizing the warning signs and symptoms of the various types of child abuse, see Recognizing Child Abuse: What Parents Should Know.

Sources: Administration for Children and Families

National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information

National Institutes of Health -National Library of Medicine

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect

Taken from:

 http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/main/types-child-abuse/signs-of-online-sexual-child-abuse/

Types of Child Abuse - Part I

 Written by HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer 

Learn about the major types of child abuse and what constitutes physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect of a child.

The four major types of child abuse are:

• Physical abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Emotional / Psychological abuse
• Neglect

What is physical child abuse?

Physical child abuse is an injury resulting from physical aggression. Even if the injury was not intended, the act is considered physical abuse. The injury from physical child abuse may be the result of:

• Beating, slapping, or hitting.
• Pushing, shaking, kicking, or throwing.
• Pinching, biting, choking, or hair-pulling.
• Burning with cigarettes, scalding water, or other hot objects.
• Severe physical punishment.

Is physical punishment the same as physical abuse?

Physical abuse is an injury resulting from physical aggression. Physical punishment is the use of physical force with the intent of inflicting bodily pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or control. As you can see, physical punishment can easily get out of control and become physical abuse.

Some other specific types of physical child abuse are:

• Shaken Baby Syndrome - Shaking a baby or toddler can cause serious head injuries.
• Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome - Inducing medical illness in a child or wrongly convincing others that a child is sick is both dangerous and abusive.
• Drug use during pregnancy - Drug and alcohol use during pregnancy or lactation can be harmful to your child, leading to problems such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Hundreds of thousands of children are physically abused each year by someone close to them, and thousands of children die from the injuries. For those who survive, the emotional scars are deeper than the physical scars.

Some signs of physical child abuse:

• Burns, bite marks, cuts, bruises, or welts in the shape of an object.
• Resistance to going home.
• Fear of adults.

What is child sexual abuse?

Sexual abuse of a child is any sexual act between an adult and a child, including penetration, intercourse, incest, rape, oral sex, and sodomy. Other examples include:

• Fondling - Touching or kissing a child's genitals, making a child fondle an adult's genitals.
• Violations of bodily privacy - Forcing a child to undress, spying on a child in the bathroom or bedroom.
• Exposing children to adult sexuality - Performing sexual acts in front of a child, exposing genitals, telling "dirty" stories, showing pornography to a child.
• Commercial exploitation - Sexual exploitation through child prostitution or child pornography.

Regardless of the child's behavior or reactions, it is the responsibility of the adult not to engage in sexual acts with children. Sexual abuse is never the child's fault. Sexual child abusers can be:

• Fathers, mothers, siblings, or other relatives.
• Childcare professionals or babysitters.
• Clergy, teachers, or athletic coaches.
• Foster parents or host families of foreign-exchange students.
• Neighbors or friends.
• Strangers

Some signs of sexual child abuse:

• Inappropriate interest in or knowledge of sexual acts.
• Seductiveness.
• Avoidance of things related to sexuality, or rejection of own genitals or body.
• Either overcompliance or excessive aggression.
• Fear of a particular person or family member. 

  Warning Signs of Online Sexual Child Abuse

  • Your child spends large amounts of time online, especially at night.
  • You find pornography on your child's computer.
  • Your child receives phone calls from men you don't know, or is making calls, sometimes long distance, to numbers you don't recognize.
  • Your child receives mail, gifts, or packages from someone you don't know.
  • Your child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen on the monitor when you come into the room.
  • Your child becomes withdrawn from the family.
  • Your child is using an online account belonging to someone else.

  Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation

  Taken from:
   http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/main/types-child-abuse/

Surge in mental cases, disturbances

By: Azlan Othman

Minister of Health delivering his speech -
Picture by: Azlan Othman

Although there is no specific study being carried out to determine the frequency of mental disease in the local community in the sultanate, the mental disease and disturbances have shown a surge annually.
Statistics from new cases and follow-up treatment at RIPAS outpatient department have indicated that it surged from 3,889 in 2002 to 6,082 cases in 2010.

Mental health problems among children

By Azlan Othman

Prof. Dr Abang Benett Abang Taha
Head of Psychiatry Department, RIPAS Hospital
Picture: Azlan Othman

Data from the RIPAS hospital has shown that 429 children and teenagers have registered with the mental health clinic since 2005. But what we have seen is just the tip of the iceberg as many problems have been misinterpreted as discipline or other problems.

World mental Health Day 2011

 

Taken from:
Patilbprashant at http://www.slideshare.net/patilbprashant/world-mental-health-day-2011

Minggu Depan: World Mental Health Day (Hari Kesejahteraan Jiwa Sedunia) 2011

Hari Kesejahteraan Jiwa Sedunia 2011 akan diraikan di seluruh dunia pada minggu depan, iaitu pada hari Isnin, 10hb Oktober 2011.

Tema Hari Kesejahteraan Jiwa Sedunia 2011 ialah "Investing in Mental Health" (membuat pelaburan di dalam kesejahteraan jiwa).

Kami dimaklumi bahawa Jabatan Psikiatri di Hospital RIPAS telahpun merancang acara-acara untuk meraikan Hari Kesejahteraan Jiwa Sedunia tahun ini, dan aktiviti berkenaan akan berlangsung bukan saja pada 10hb Oktober 2011, tetapi berterusan untuk beberapa bulan. Tujuan acara-acara berkenaan adalah untuk meningkatkan kesedaran mengenai masalah kesejahteraan jiwa dan juga beban masalah kesejahteraan jiwa kepada individu, keluarga dan masyarakat. Juga diharapkan acara-acara berkenaan dapat melahirkan kesedaran mengenai faedah melabur di dalam kesejahteraan jiwa.

Kami di blog Kesejahteraan Jiwa Kitani menantikan berita selanjutnya dan akan menyampaikannya di sini secepat mungkin.

Conduct Disorder

Conduct disorder (CD) is a group of behavioural problems where a child is aggressive, antisocial and defiant to a much greater degree than expected for your child’s age. Characteristics of conduct disorder include:

• fighting and physical cruelty
• destructiveness
• lying and stealing
• truancy (including running away from home).

To get a diagnosis of conduct disorder, your child must have shown at least three of these characteristics over the past year, with at least one of the characteristics shown in the last six months.

How is conduct disorder classified?

There are two types of conduct disorder:

• early onset where the child shows at least one characteristic before the age of 10 (this is often associated with ADHD)
• adolescent-onset type where the child doesn’t show any of the characteristics before the age of 10. This is the most common type. It is not specific to ADHD, but may occur with ADHD.

The severity depends on how many problems the child has and his effect on others.

• Mild: has just enough conduct problems to make the diagnosis, causes only minor harm to others.
• Moderate: several conduct problems, causes moderate harm to others.
• Severe: many conduct problems, causes considerable harm to others.

What are the symptoms of conduct disorder?

Symptoms are grouped into four areas.

1. Aggression to people and animals

• Often bullies, threatens or intimidates others.
• Often initiates physical fights.
• Has used a weapon that could cause serious physical harm to others (eg a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife or gun).
• Is physically cruel to people or animals.
• Steals from a victim while confronting them (eg assault, mugging, purse-snatching).
• Forces someone into sexual activity.

2. Destruction of property

• Deliberately engages in fire-setting with the intention to cause damage.
• Deliberately destroys someone else’s property (other than by arson).

3. Deceitfulness, lying or stealing

• Has broken into someone else’s building, house, or car.
• Lies to obtain goods or favours or to avoid obligations.
• Steals items without confronting a victim (eg shoplifting without breaking and entering, forgery).

4. Serious violations of rules

• Often stays out at night despite parental objections before the age of 13.
• Runs away from home – at least twice overnight or once for a longer period.
• Often truant from school before the age of 13.

How does it cause problems?

• Socially: affected children tend to overreact to situations and have outbursts of temper or defiance. This means he'll have few friends and will be socially awkward. As adults, he may have relationship and marital problems.
• At work and school: his behaviour is likely to break rules. This means he may be excluded from school, if he attends in the first place, and it could affect exams. At work such behaviour can lead to dismissal.
• Legally: stealing, assault and destroying properly can land your child in court.

Conduct disorder can make it hard for children to trust adults, which in turn makes it harder for them to go along with treatments such as behaviour therapy and psychotherapy.

Harga Diri

Apakah yang dimaksudkan dengan harga diri?

Harga diri adalah satu cara di mana kanak-kanak menilai diri mereka sendiri.

Apakah ciri-ciri kanak-kanak yang mempunyai harga diri yang tinggi?

Kanak-kanak ini :

• Mudah berkawan
• Berminat untuk melakukan aktiviti-aktiviti baru
• Mudah bekerjasama dan patuh pada arahan
• Boleh mengawal perlakuan
• Bermain sendiri dan bersama rakan-rakan lain
• Mempunyai idea-idea tersendiri dan kreatif
• Riang, bersemangat dan mudah berinteraksi

Apakah ciri-ciri kanak-kanak yang mempunyai harga diri yang rendah?

Mereka :

• Tidak ceria
• Kurang keyakinan diri
• Perasaan tidak berguna
• Sentiasa berasa letih dan penat
• Sering memikirkan perkara-perkara yang tidak baik
• Rasa rendah diri
• Sering gagal di sekolah