Impacts of Emotional Abuse

Emotional Abuse Treatment and Therapy in Toronto

What is Emotional Abuse?

Emotional abuse, or psychological abuse, is any act intended to frighten, control or isolate an individual. For children, this results in the absence of a nurturing environment. Emotional abuse can include:

• Constant yelling

• Name calling, insults, demeaning remarks, or threats

• Physically or socially isolating an individual

• Withholding affection

• Bullying or public humiliation

• Exposure to family violence

• Denying something an individual knows is true (gaslighting)

• Destroying an individual’s belongings, hurting their pets, or threatening to do so

Fortunately, there are many effective virtual and in-person treatments and therapies in Toronto that can help children who are struggling with the impacts of emotional abuse.

What are Common Signs of Emotional Abuse?

Children who are emotionally abused may show the following physical and/or behavioural signs:

Physical Signs

• Frequent physical symptoms (i.e. headaches, nausea, abdominal pain)

• Bedwetting

• Child’s failure to thrive

Behavioural Signs

Preschool-Aged Children:

• Overly affectionate to people they do not know

• Appear wary or anxious

• Lack strong attachment with parents/caregivers

• Aggressive or cruel towards other children or animals

School-Aged Children:

• Extreme withdrawal or aggressiveness

• Extreme emotional outbursts

• Difficulty with social skills

• Difficulty maintaining relationships

• Appear isolated from parents/caregivers

• Displays extreme inhibition to play or extreme attention seeking

• Too neat or clean

• Acts in ways that are not age-appropriate (i.e. acts too much like an adult, or too much like an infant)

Adolescents:

• Low self-esteem

• Difficulty sleeping

• Difficulty developing and maintaining relationships

• Changes in school performance

• Difficulty controlling emotions

• Self-destructive behaviour (i.e. self-harming, substance abuse)

• Severe depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder

Adults:

• Difficulty sleeping

• Becoming silent around a particular person

• Low self-esteem

• Change in appetite or eating disorders

• Difficulty with feelings of abandonment

• Difficulty developing close relationships

• Poor job performance

• Overly compliant or eager to please others

• Severe depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder

How to Support Children who are Emotionally Abused?

• For sense of self:

  • Use activities that encourage the child to reflect on their strengths and use positive self-talk

• For social skills:

  • Provide the child with assertiveness techniques and use role-play to teach assertive communication 

  • Use small groups or partnered activities to promote problem-solving skills

• For emotional regulation:

  • Provide the child with self-regulation strategies to use when they are feeling overwhelmed (i.e. colouring, deep breathing)

Emotional Abuse Support for Families

For individuals and families in Toronto struggling with emotional abuse, there are a variety of in-person and virtual treatments that may be beneficial, including:

• Programs and groups for kids that focus on behaviour and self-regulation

• Individual and family therapy

• Social skills training

• Emotional regulation training

• Play therapy 

• Dialectical behaviour therapy

• Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy

• Behavioural therapy

• Parent training for behavioural management for kids