Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse (also known as psychological abuse) is when a child or young person is persistently emotionally mistreated.

Emotional abuse can take many forms, including:

• Humiliating, mocking, and calling names
• Isolation and ignoring
• Constant criticising
• Threatening
• Shouting or deliberately making the child afraid
• Blaming and scapegoating
• Manipulating
• Being absent or never expressing emotions (also known as emotional neglect)
• Never saying anything kind or expressing positive feelings or praise
• Exposing the child to traumatic events (i.e. taking drugs, violence)
• Not recognising a child’s individuality, boundaries or limitations
• Imposing inappropriate or unrealistic expectations on a child
• Not allowing a child to socialise
• Making a child perform degrading acts
• Telling a child they are worthless or ugly

It may involve bullying, making a child feel frightened or in danger or exploiting or corrupting them.

Emotional abuse can have long-lasting and devastating effects on a child’s emotional health and development. Children and young people who are emotionally abused may also be the victims of other types of abuse, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.