Reuters (10/24, Neumann), citing a paper set for publication in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, reported that researchers led by Joseph Spinazzola determined that psychological cruelty children suffer at the hands of parents or guardians can be as – or more – emotionally damaging than physical and sexual abuse are.
This diagnosis is being overlooked and undertreated relative to physical forms of abuse, said Spinazzola, executive director of the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. His study drew on the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Core Data set to analyze the cases of 5,616 young people with histories of psychological, physical, or sexual abuse.
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— “For kids, psychological abuse may leave the deepest scars,” Janice Neumann, Reuters, October 24, 2014.