ABSTRACT
A child suffering emotional abuse may well want to be treated as a child much younger than their psychological years. A child suffering from emotional abuse may have little thought concerning their own appearance. As a means of escape, a child suffering emotional abuse may well succumb to the taking of alcohol or other drugs such as cannabis, heroin or crack cocaine. In the Department’s guide, the term emotional abuse is described as follows: emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on a child’s emotional development. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone. Emotional abuse has an important impact on a developing child’s mental health, behaviour and self-esteem. The influence of emotional abuse may well cause the child to perform poorly in schoolwork.
