According to “Bing”, Psychological abuse**, also known as *mental or emotional abuse*, involves using verbal and non-verbal communication to try to control someone or harm them emotionally. Although it doesn’t leave visible bruises or broken bones, psychological abuse can cause severe emotional issues and mental health conditions. It’s essential to recognize it and seek help promptly, as it often serves as a precursor to physical abuse.
Child abuse and intimate partner abuse are common forms of psychological abuse, both of which have serious implications for public health.
For children who experience emotional abuse, the effects can be profound. Remember, psychological abuse can be just as damaging as physical or sexual abuse, even though it may be harder to detect. If you suspect someone is experiencing psychological abuse, encourage them to seek help and support.
Taken from Parental Child Abduction is Child Abuse by Nancy Faulkner, Ph.D. Presented to the United Nations Convention on Child Rights in Special Session, June 9, 1999, she states:
“It is generally accepted that children are emotionally impacted by divorce. Children of troubled abductor parents bear an even greater burden. The needs of the troubled parent override the developmental needs of the child, with the result that the child becomes psychologically depleted and their own emotional and social progress is crippled. (Rand, 1997).
Most agree that the resultant trauma to a child, who in a moment was stolen away from his or her entire world of familiarity, is emotionally, developmentally, and psychologically devastating.
Van Bloom (1999) reports that for a child “it is not possible to develop true self-esteem and find peace without resolving differences and emotional pain due to stressed or damaged emotional ties to parents and family.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, a well-respected authority on grief, suggests that the second most intense life stress, second to death, is divorce or loss of a love relationship. “Love relationship” in this sense applies to all families and close relationships, e.g., husband-wife, parent-child, siblings, etc.
Not only does an abducted child experience the physical distancing and loss of a parent, and with the death of a parent generally comes loss of attachment, history, and roots. According to Ross, a sudden, unexpected loss is usually harder to accept than an anticipated loss for which we have had time to prepare,
as is the case for a kidnapped child.
Loss and grief experts also agree that the loss of a person on whom dependent is difficult to handle […]. like that of an abducted child kidnapped from a parent on whom he or she was dependent. Also, the assistance from personal support systems – family and friends – is an important factor in recovering from a loss.
Support for such losses is likely to be especially weak when one lives away from family of has few friends, such as the grief-stricken child who was removed from their own support and reality. An abducted child has lost most, if not all support systems.
So added to the abducted child’s long list of challenges, problems, stressors, and confusions, is grief. Grief for the absent parent, for a life that no longer exists, for friends and loved ones, and for the certainty and comfort of life as it was.
Emotional Abuse Recognized as a Legal Cause of Action.
“Emotional abuse is recognized as a legal cause of action. In the past, emotional and psychological abuse was not readily recognized in the eyes of the law. In today’s times, emotional abuse is often considered a major factor in family law cases and is reviewed closely in child abuse or elderly abuse matters.” ~AI-Copilot
See… https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/emotional-abuse-laws.html See Crimes Committed.