Counselling children and adolescent Children and adolescent need counselling services their special problems that they undergo Abuse and Neglect High Risk Behaviours Broken families CHILD ABUSE Child abuse is harming the child physically verbally emotionally or sexually It can be any type of ill treatment maltreatment neglect or deprivation of the child from the basic needs or the felt needs Recognizing or identifying a child who is abused or at risk can be a difficult task because a child may not talk of the abuse Physical abuse which is visible and obvious leaves bruises can be identified at times though the child may or may not speak about it But some go unrecognized and unnoticed like the neglect verbal abuse sexual and emotional abuse that are harmful to the core just as damaging as physical abuse or even more Children may not come out speaking or are unable to express about the abuses because of the dependency they have on the abuser fear or ignorance As a responsible adults it is our duty to protect children The signs of abuse are not always evident But by learning to observe identify and recognize the signs of an abuse or a possible abuse neglect or violence we can make a child s life change to the better Because the alert that we get of a possibility of a child being abused and that a child may be in need of help and protection Physical abuse Physical abuse is defined as an act of commission by a caregiver that results or is likely to result in physical harm including death of a child The physical harm or abuse may be a deliberate attempt to hurt the child in the name of punishment Abusive parents or care givers or any adults maintain that their actions of punishing the child are one of the forms of disciplining the child to behave properly But it should be clearly understood that the punishment given to discipline the child is very different from the physical abuse For example kicking biting shaking the child vigorously making the child to panic stabbing punching pushing the child against any object or wall and making the child be in a certain position for a long period of time causing body pain are all the forms of physical abuse Although spanking a child may be considered as a disciplinary measure is considered as abuse if it is repeated Sexual abuse Sexual abuse is an abuse which involves sexual activity forced on a child by an adult or exposure of the child to any sexual situations or materials It should be realized that whether touching is involved or not it is considered as sexual abuse even if the child is exposed to sexually abusive situations or materials like pornography or movies of sexual activity Sexual abuse is whether sexual touching or not causes damage to the child Further the abuser causes more damage to the child s emotions by forcing the child to keep the incident a secret which curbs their ability to reach out and get help The secret that they are forced to keep makes children isolated and children have to undergo intensive feeling of shame and guilt As sexual abuse leads children towards those experiences they are not ready for and is devastating emotionally and physically Being the victims of sexual abuse children undergo two aspects such as they are often grieved of shame and guilt and because of shame they withdraw themselves Verbal and emotional abuse Verbal abuse is one of the common types of child abuse It includes teasing bullying yelling criticising constant rejection and hostility This will make the child feel lonely and alone uncared and unloved feel hopeless and worthless It is also known as psychological or emotional abuse Emotional abuse Hurting the feelings of a child can be termed as emotional abuse Emotional abuse causes destruction in a child s life It ruthlessly harms the mental health and social development of children Some of the examples of emotional abuse are Persistent demeaning disgracing and shaming Name calling Negative comments Being judgemental Constantly telling the child that they are of no use not good worthless etc Threatening yelling and scolding Restraining physical touch like showing no affection hugs kisses etc Child Neglect When basic needs like food clothing proper shelter with sanitation and monitoring is not provided for a child is called as child neglect It is also one of the common types of child abuse When a parent or a care giver fails to keep a child safe by depriving the child from the basic needs can also be termed as neglect Ignoring the child rejecting the child s needs and wants also comes under child neglect Effects of child abuse Child abuse has long term effects All forms of abuse and child neglect has lasting marks The marks may be physical for some and emotional for others Emotional marks has a long lasting effects in a child s life These effects may damage the child s functioning capacity at home school and at work place impacts the relationships and on self The effects of abuse and neglect of a child includes Issues with trust and relationships children face problems with trust and relationships where they lack a sense of trust which will make their relationships difficult When mistrust sustains throughout childhood the child would have had undergone lot of difficulty in knowing what is trustworthiness With this the child would not be able to recognize the truthful and reliable people This development leads to an unhealthy relationships during adulthood and they find it difficult to maintain relationships as they do not know what a good relationship is all about Feeling of hopelessness and worthlessness when the child is being told as not good over and over again it becomes the basic feeling about oneself It is hard to come out of this feeling Moreover it leads to an inferiority complex as they grow up Because of this feeling abused child will not explore much as they do not know that they are worth more They believe that they are not as good as others since they would have grown up hearing to this Especially it is hard for the sexually abused to come out of the feeling of guilt and shame Their fundamental feelings are damaged Lack emotional regulation abused children find it difficult to regulate emotions Always their emotional expressions are refrained They find trouble in regulating their emotions and cannot express them in a right way Their emotions tend to pent up and outburst in unexpected ways As they become adults they suffer from stress depression and anxiety which may also turn