Emotional abuse

Emotional Abuse

Sign, symptoms and effects

Find out more about the signs, symptoms and effects of emotional abuse:

What is emotional abuse?

Emotional abuse – The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child so as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development.

It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person
It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them, or making fun of what they say or how they communicate
It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction
It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another
It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children.
Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

Working Together 2026