1. Rejection-- Parents who lack the ability to bond will often display rejecting behaviour towards a child. They would also tell a child in certain ways that he or she is unwanted, telling the child to leave, or remarked them being worthless. Verbal abuse, belittling the child & make negative comparisons The parents would not talk to or hold the young child as he or she grows, resulting in the child to become the family scapegoat; habitual blaming, being blamed for every family problem they encountered.


2. Ignoring-- Withholding affection, adults who have had few of their emotional needs met are often unable to respond to the needs of their children. They may not show attachment to the child or provide nurturance, no interest in the child, or failure to express affection or recognise the child's presence. The parents were only physically there, but emotionally unavailable.


3. 
   
   Terrorizing-- Parents singling the child out to criticize & punish, ridicule him or her for displaying normal emotinals & have expectations far beyond their normal abilities. The child may be threatened with death, mutilation or abandonment.

1. 
   
   Isolating-- Extreme punishment, the parents abuses the child through isolation, & may not allow the child to engage in any appropriate activites with his or her peers; prevent teenagers from participating in any extracurricular activities. Parents may tie require the childto stay in their rooms from the time school ends till the next morning, or restrict the child to eating, seclusion or isolation. Extreme punishments could be of such like tying the child to a fixture or even locking the child up in a closet or dark room.


2. 
   
   Corrupting-- Parents permitting their child to use drugs or alcohol; to watch cruel behavior and violence towards animals or pornograhic materials & adult sex acts; or to witness or paricipate in criminal activities such as stealing, assault, or gambling.

Effects of emotional abuse

Child abuse can produce dire consequences during the victim's childhood & adulthood. Other types of abuse are usually indentifiable as marks or other physical evidence like malnourishment is left, or even going off like time bombs later in life. However, emotional abuse had difficulties to diagnose or even define. In some instances, an emotionally abused child will show no sighs of abuse. For this particular reason, emotional abuse is the most difficult form of child maltreatment to identify & stop. As physiological effects such as cognitive difficulties or lingering health problems may not show up for quite a period or be clearly attributable to abuse. This type of abuse leaves hidden scars that manifest themselves in numerous ways. Insecurity, poor self-esteem, destructive behavior, angry acts such as fire setting or cruelty to animals, withdrawal, poor development of basic skills, alcohol or drug abuse, suicide & difficulty forming relationships could be all possible results of emotional abuse.

Emotional child abuse involves behavior that interferes with a child’s mental health or social development: one website calls it “the systematic tearing down of another human being.” Such abuse can range from verbal insults to acts of terror, and it’s almost always a factor in the other three categories of abuse. While emotional abuse by itself doesn’t involve the infliction of physical pain or inappropriate physical contact, it can have more long-lasting negative psychological effects than either physical abuse or sexual abuse.
Examples of emotional child abuse include:
Verbal abuse • Belittling or shaming the child: name-calling, making negative comparisons to others, telling the child he or she is “no good," "worthless," "a mistake."
• Habitual blaming: telling the child that everything is his or her fault.
Withholding affection • Ignoring or disregarding the child
• Lack of affection and warmth: Failure to hug, praise, express love for the child
Extreme punishment These are actions that are meant to isolate and terrorize a child, such as tying the child to a fixture or piece of furniture or locking a child in a closet or dark room.
Corruption This involves causing a child to witness or participate in inappropriate behavior, such as criminal activities, drug or alcohol abuse, or acts of violence.
Emotional abuse can come not only from adults but from other children: siblings, neighborhood or schoolyard bullies, and peers in schools that permit a culture of social ostracism (the “mean girl” syndrome. The signs of emotional child abuse include apathy, depression, and hostility. If it happens at school, the child may be reluctant to go to school and develop or fake a physical complaint.
Causes of child abuse
Why would someone abuse a defenseless child? What kind of person abuses a child? Not all child abuse is deliberate or intended. Several factors in a person's life may combine to cause them to abuse a child:
• Stress, including the stress of caring for children, or the stress of caring for a child with a disability, special needs, or difficult behaviors
• Lack of nurturing qualities necessary for child care
• Immaturity: a disproportionate number of parents who abuse their children are teenagers
• Difficulty controlling anger
• Personal history of being abused
• Isolation from the family or community
• Physical or mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Personal problems such as marital conflict, unemployment, or financial difficulties.
No one has been able to predict which of these factors will cause someone to abuse a child. A significant factor is that abuse tends to be intergenerational – those who were abused as children are more likely to repeat the act when they become parents or caretakers.
In addition, many forms of child abuse arise from ignorance. Sometimes a cultural tradition leads to abuse. Such beliefs include:
• Children are property.
• Parents (especially fathers) have the right to control their children in any way they wish.
• Children need to be toughened up to face the hardships of life.
• Girls need to be genitally mutilated to assure virginity and later marriage.
Effects of child abuse
Child abuse can produce dire consequences during the victim’s childhood and adulthood. Some effects of child abuse are obvious: a child is malnourished or has a cast on her arm; a nine-year-old develops a sexually transmitted disease. But some physiological effects of child abuse, such as cognitive difficulties or lingering health problems, may not show up for some time or be clearly attributable to abuse. Other effects of child abuse are invisible or go off like time bombs later in life.
Emotional Effects of Child Abuse
Just as all types of child abuse have an emotional component; all affect the emotions of the victims. These effects include

• Low self-esteem
• Depression and anxiety
• Aggressive behavior/anger issues
• Relationship difficulties
• Alienation and withdrawal
• Personality disorders
• Clinginess, neediness
• Flashbacks and nightmares
Many adults who were abused as children find it difficult to trust other people, endure physical closeness, and establish intimate relationships.
Behavioral Effects of Child Abuse
Child abuse can play itself out not only in how its victims feel but in what they do years later. Children who suffer abuse have much greater chances of being arrested later as juveniles and as adults. Significant percentages of inmates in U.S. prisons were abused as children. One of every three abused or neglected children will grow up to become an abusive parent.
Other behavioral effects include
• Problems in school and work
• Prostitution
• Teen pregnancy
• Suicide attempts • Criminal or antisocial behavior
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Eating disorders
• Spousal abuse



3. Causes of child abuse
There are many causes of child abuse. Many child abusers were also victims of abuse. Mental illness is another common factor, with many abusers having personality disorders or other severe forms of mental illness. Psychosocial factors also play a role.
Parental choices and other unforeseen circumstances that place families under extraordinary stress ― for instance, poverty, divorce, sickness, disability, lack of parental skills and drugs are often associated with child maltreatment. Many of these factors may contribute to family stress that can result in child abuse or neglect. Understanding the root causes of abuse can help better determine the best methods of prevention and treatment.
Suicidal tendencies seem to erupt from children who were abused. The need for pain is increased and is normally satisfied by cutting or pulling out of the hair. Coping with pain is something most abused children have to go through. It is also caused because of our gender.
Effects of child abuse
Child abuse in its various forms has numerous effects and consequences, both tangible and intangible, upon society, those mistreated, and those entrusted with the responsibility of its detection, prevention, and treatment. Child abuse can have dire consequences, during both childhood and adulthood. The effects of being abused as a child vary according to the severity of the abuse and the surrounding environment of the child. If the family or school environment is nurturing and supportive, the child will probably have a healthier outcome. Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect and physical abuse are at risk of developing psychiatric problems. Such children are at risk of developing a disorganized attachment. Disorganized attachment is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissocializes symptoms, as well as anxiety, depressive, and acting-out symptoms. A study by Dante Cicchetti found that 80% of abused and maltreated infants exhibited symptoms of disorganized attachment.
Negative Consequences of Child Abuse
Emotional effects include low self-esteem, depression and anxiety, eating disorders, relationship difficulties, alienation and withdrawal, and personality disorders.
Physical effects include injury, death, lifelong health problems, cognitive difficulties, and physical disabilities.
Behavioral effects include problems in school and work, delinquency, teen pregnancy, suicide attempts, criminal or antisocial behavior, substance abuse, aggressive behavior, spousal and child abuse, and anger.
Prevention
Given these possible causes, most professionals agree that there are three levels of prevention services; primary prevention, secondary prevention, and tertiary prevention.
Primary prevention
Primary prevention consists of activities that are targeted at the community level. These activities are meant to impact families prior to any allegations of abuse and neglect. Primary prevention services include public education activities, parent education classes that are open to anyone in the community for parents or abusers to interact with the child, and family support programs. Primary prevention can be difficult to measure because you are attempting to impact something before it happens, an unknown variable.
Secondary prevention
Secondary prevention consists of activities targeted to families that have one or more risk factors including families with substance abuse, teen parents, parents of special need children, single parents, and low income families. Secondary prevention services include parent education classes targeted for high risk parents, respite care for parents of a child with a disability, or home visiting programs for new parents.
Tertiary prevention
These families have already demonstrated the need for intervention, with or without court supervision. Prevention supporters consider 'tertiary prevention' synonymous with treatment and entirely different from prevention through family support.


Treatment
The following are a few examples of empirically supported treatments for child trauma.
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy has been used to help children exposed to any type of trauma, although it was originally designed for survivors of sexual abuse. It targets trauma-related symptoms in children including PTSD, depression, and anxiety. It also includes a component for non-offending parents.
Abuse-focused cognitive behavioral therapy was designed for children who have experienced physical abuse. It targets externalizing behaviors and strengthens prosocial behaviors. Offending parents are included in treatment, to improve parenting skills/practices.
Child-parent psychotherapy was designed to improve the child-parent relationship following the experience of domestic violence. It targets trauma-related symptoms in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, including PTSD, aggression, defiance, and anxiety.