Being a psychology major, gaining new knowledge on a variety of psychological issues is always a great interest, and new research is constantly being performed. Recently, researchers have been attempting to evaluate the long-term effects that experiencing emotional maltreatment has on children. Emotional maltreatment is broadly defined as, “a repeated pattern of caregiver behavior or extreme incident(s) that convey to children that they are flawed, unloved, unwanted, endangered, or of value only in meeting another's needs” (Taillieu). This differs from physical maltreatment because it affects a person’s mental state, rather than their physical state. Emotional maltreatment is often thought as being less severe than physical maltreatment, however researchers are beginning to argue that it is actually just as, if not more severe. The scars that emotional maltreatment leave are internal, and they carry long-lasting effects that negatively alter a person’s mental health. Because of the fact that emotional maltreatment leaves lasting negative effects on its victims, perhaps these issues can follow a person throughout their lifetime and negatively impact their future romantic relationships. 

In recent years, much research has been conducted to study the negative effects of emotional maltreatment. An article I found titled, “More Than Words”, was written in 2014 by Andrew M. Campbell BS and Roberta Hibbard MD who work with the Pediatric Clinics of North America. The authors talk about the lack of attention emotional maltreatment receives when they say, “Emotional maltreatment, although often overlooked and underappreciated, may be the most complex, prevalent, and damaging form of child abuse or neglect” (Campbell) . Researches have gathered a “conservative” estimate that up to 12% of American children experience emotional maltreatment from their parents, as of 2014. Emotional maltreatment also occurs in 75%-90% of child physical abuse cases, however it is often overlooked because it does not exhibit any physical symptoms such as physical or sexual abuse do. 

With that being said, the scars that emotional maltreatment leaves can be far worse than any scar physical abuse leaves. This is because experiencing emotional maltreatment during childhood leaves lasting psychological effects on a person into their adulthood such as social and behavioral difficulties. Biologically speaking, “when a child does not receive healthy stimulus, which is often the case in an abusive or neglectful home environment, development of specific areas of the brain, for example those responsible for caring behavior and cognitive abilities, are damaged in a manner that becomes increasingly irreversible with age” (Campbell). The fact that emotional maltreatment towards children is still so overlooked, and thus lacks any laws to prevent it from happening is why Campbell and Hibbard agree that it may be the most complex and damaging form of child maltreatment.

Another study that I found comes from an article titled, “Childhood emotional maltreatment and mental disorders: Results from a nationally representative adult sample from the United States”, was written in 2016 by a plethora of authors which include Tamara L. Taillieu, Douglas A. Brownridge, Jitender Sareen, and Tracie O. Afifi. The authors of this article bring an interesting point to the table when they say, “Emotional maltreatment is a difficult construct to define and measure, and many different acts can be considered emotionally abusive” (Taillieu). Although research on the effects of experiencing emotional maltreatment as a child is possible, it may be difficult because different people can have different definitions of “emotional maltreatment”. Because of this, there can be a lack of consistency in research, which is why there must be an established definition by researchers when beginning a study on this topic. 

The researchers of this study developed a definitive definition of emotional maltreatment, defining the five main types of emotional maltreatment as: spurning, the act of rejecting someone/something with disdain, terrorizing, creating a state of extreme fear or distress for someone, corrupting/exploiting, using someone for your own personal benefit, isolating, completely separating someone from all outside sources, and denying emotional responsiveness, failing to provide care in a sensitive manner. These researchers have found that approximately 14% of U.S. adults have had to endure some form of emotional maltreatment during their childhood, and this maltreatment has been associated with increased odds for Axis I and Axis II disorders. Axis I disorders pertain to mood and anxiety disorders, such as major depressive disorder and social phobia, while Axis II disorders deal with personality disorders, such as paranoia and antisocialness. The authors of this article also begin to touch on the fact that emotional maltreatment can cause a detriment to a person’s future relationships when they state, “Childhood emotional neglect was associated with lifetime diagnoses of specific mental disorders...These disorders seem to suggest social withdrawal and avoidance of, or difficulty with, interpersonal relationships” (Taillieu). By examining all of the data, the authors have concluded that emotional maltreatment is a major health concern because of the long-term impact and influence it has on Axis I and Axis II mental disorders.

An interesting video that I came across titled, “Emotional Abuse is Far Worse than You Think”, talks about the new research that has been gathered on the negative effects of emotional maltreatment. The video opens up by saying “A new study finds that emotional abuse is just as harmful as physical or sexual abuse. So why is no one talking about this?” (Long). The video stresses the fact that unlike physical and sexual abuse, there are no laws to protect children from emotional abuse, and it does not receive the same propaganda that the others do. According to a study that the video includes, “children who are emotionally abused or neglected can develop similar, and sometimes even worse mental health problems than kids who are sexually or physically abused” (Long). The video lists the different mental disorders that experiencing emotional maltreatment can lead to, and a fact that comes as surprising to many is that, “of the three kinds of abuse, psychological maltreatment specifically has the highest association with depression, anxiety, attachment issues, and substance abuse” (Long). Because of these findings, it is evident that emotional maltreatment desperately needs a light to be shined upon it, so that it can be prevented, and so that children are no longer left with long-lasting negative impacts on their mental health.

As evidence proves, experiencing emotional maltreatment as a child does leave a lasting negative impact on a person’s mental health into adulthood. Now it was time to research how suffering from mental health disorders affects an adult’s ability to form solid romantic relationships in their life. An article written in 2016 titled, “In their Own Words: How clinical depression affects romantic relationships”, was written by three researchers, Liesel L. Sharabi, Amy L. Delaney, and Leanne K. Knobloch. The authors focus on the specific mental disorder of clinical depression, which is one of the disorders that the previous article stated that emotional maltreatment can cause. This was a self-report study, which allows participants to freely express the struggles that they face in forming romantic relationships while suffering from clinical depression. 

The researchers divide the assorted problems that clinical depression poses in romantic relationships into categories that include: sexual intimacy, communication, emotional toll, isolation, lack of energy/motivation, dependence, lack of understanding, and uncertainty. For each category, there are self-reports from people who either suffer from depression themselves, or are in a relationship with someone who suffers from depression, and they describe how depression affects each one of those mentioned areas of their relationships. After research was conducted, it was noted that, “Participants most frequently noted that depression took an emotional toll on the couple” (Sharabi). An example that one partner provided of how emotional toll affects their relationship reads, ‘‘If my partner is sad or depressed, it makes me feel sad and helpless” (Sharabi). The responses that the 135 participants supplied all show the many ways that depression severely interferes with their romantic relationships. This data is important because it verifies the authors’ beliefs that depression does in fact interfere with everyday life, especially in romantic relationships because of the interdependence that partners have for each other.

The DNews video claimed that experiencing emotional maltreatment leads to attachment issues, which can be something that poses a large problem in future romantic relationships. In an article titled, “Adult attachment, stress, and romantic relationships”, written by Jeffrey A. Simpson and W. Steven Roles, the authors talk about the different ways that having these attachment issues can affect your romantic relationship. They first break down attachment issues into two separate categories: avoidance and anxiety. Avoidance being, “the degree to which individuals are comfortable with closeness and emotional intimacy in relationships” (Simpson) and anxiety being, “the degree to which individuals worry about being underappreciated or abandoned by their romantic partners” (Simpson). The lack of care and concern that children receive from their parents while experiencing emotional maltreatment essentially leads to these trust issues such as avoidance and anxiety with their future partners. 

Avoidance presents romantic relationship troubles because, “Avoidant people strive to create and maintain independence, control, and autonomy in their relationships because they believe that seeking psychological/emotional proximity to romantic partners is either not possible or undesirable” (Simpson). This sense of independence and autonomy can create a dishonest environment in romantic relationships because the partner is acting regularly acting as an individual, rather than someone in a relationship. Anxiety goes hand in hand with feelings of low self worth and rejection, stemming from the treatment they have received from their parents. These feelings can carry into romantic relationships because “Anxious individuals harbor negative self-views and guarded but hopeful views of their romantic partners. These conflicted perceptions lead anxious individuals to question their worth, worry about losing their partners, and remain vigilant to signs their partners might be pulling away from them” (Simpson). Suffering from anxiety in a romantic relationship can cause a partner to constantly question whether the other partner truly wants to be in the relationship or not, which provokes the partner to become heavily attached, which can end up pushing the other partner away. Whether it is barely attached or highly attached, attachment issues cause romantic partners to push away from one another, which is just another way the effects of emotional maltreatment cause damage to your future.

There are countless laws that have been put into effect to protect children from physical and sexual abuse. Adults who commit the crimes of either physical or sexual abuse towards children are many times put into jail because these crimes are taken so seriously. Why is it that emotional maltreatment is not treated with the same sense of emphasis? Children who have been emotionally maltreated are left with the same mental health issues that children who have been physically or sexually abused are left with, such as depression and anxiety, so how is it fair that children are not protected from this type of abuse like they are from the others? This is why it is so crucial to spread awareness about emotional maltreatment, so that people can be informed on the awful effects it has on children and what it can do to their futures. Many parents are probably not aware that the dismissive attitude or lack of empathy they have for their child can be setting up their child’s future for a rocky road of relationship struggles. In an article titled, “Child Abuse & Neglect: Recognizing the Signs and Making a Difference”, by Melinda Smith and Jeanne Segal, the authors proclaim, “If you can’t trust your parents, who can you trust?” (Smith). This explains the depth of the impact that parents have on their children, which is why it is vital to protect children from the damaging effects of emotional maltreatment from their parents.

Many parents who emotionally maltreat their children do so because that is how they were raised by their parents. Thus, they do not know any treatment other than the one they were given, so the vicious cycle of emotional maltreatment continues. It is imperative for children who have been emotionally maltreated to recognize the struggle they had to endure, and do everything in their power to put the cycle to an end. Veronica Jarski, founder of “The Invisible Scar”, a blog to help the survivors of childhood emotional maltreatment writes, “If the adult seeks therapy and healing from an abusive childhood, the adult child can break the emotional abuse cycle and not perpetuate the abuse with their own children” (Jarski). This ideal can also be related to the child’s future romantic relationships. Often times, children who have been victims of emotional maltreatment end up thinking that relationships like the one they had with their parents are considered “healthy”. This is because children become so accustomed to the poor treatment from their parents that they end up convincing themselves that that treatment is the norm. When this happens, those children carry that mindset into their romantic relationships, which creates unhealthy relationships with their partners that often end in turmoil. 

Some  do not believe that having a mental illness has any true impact on relationships, for example, Molly Pohig says, “All they’ve seen are TV shows, and they think that if you say, 'I have a mental illness,' it means you’re a psychopath” (Khan). Many times it can be a challenge for healthy-minded partners to relate to or even support their partners who suffer from a mental illness. This is because they truly do not know what their partners are going through, and mental illness can be a complex issue that is exceedingly hard to understand. Despite this, some argue that as soon as your partner is able to understand your mental illness, the relationship is able to flourish with no complications. However, it truly is not just as simple as that. The road to getting your partner to understand your mental illness can be long and awfully taxing, and many times, relationships crumble under the pressure of it all.

Emotional maltreatment, although not considered a critical societal issue by many, is actually one of the largest issues that today’s society is facing. Thousands of children are falling victim to this type of child abuse, and there is nothing being done to stop it. This means that thousands of children are being put into situations where there is a high likelihood that they will end up developing a mental illness, and there is nothing they can do to control it. This is unquestionably unfair and unfortunate that these children’s futures are being negatively impacted because of the emotional maltreatment they are receiving from their parents. As research has proven, the mental issues that result from experiencing emotional maltreatment can present major obstacles in future romantic relationships. It is important as a society to begin raising awareness of this epidemic that is affecting so many children and their futures. To not be able to form loving and lasting romantic relationships in adulthood, solely because of hurtful experiences from a person’s childhood is downright cruel, and the only way the cycle can be permanently stopped is by exposing the whole truth about emotional maltreatment.
