"According to the American National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, 3 million cases of child abuse and neglect were reported in the United States last year. And, at least 2,000 of those children died as a result of mistreatment. With such staggering statistics, some of which have grown significantly in the past decade, abuse victims stand to become a major demographic in tomorrow’s therapeutic field."

"While the more well-known facets of abuse include physical, sexual, and emotional cruelty, basic neglect can also damage its victims. For example, physical neglect might be the failure to provide adequate food, clothing, or hygiene, while emotional neglect would be inadequate nurturing or affection. Childhood is an extremely sensitive time for growth and development of both social and cognitive ability, and a negative home environment can irreparably stunt a child’s physical and mental growth. . ."

“In my experience,  the person is usually acting in ways that are either different from their previous way of being – destructive in some way – or have been going on for a long time and aren’t good for the person,” says Judith Barr, MS, LMHC, a Brookfield, Conn.-based psychotherapist and author of Power Abused, Power Healed (Mysteries of Life, 2007). “This could be a sudden onset, like a child whose grades fall drastically, who doesn’t want to go out, or who goes to college and can’t stay there. The destructiveness could include cutting, using drugs, driving dangerously, or wishing they were dead. The longevity of unhealthy behavior could include frequent nightmares, loss of initiative, and an attitude of resignation.”

– Bob Scott is a writer for therapytimes.com.

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Reprinted with permission from Therapy Times magazine.