"Predictable" Consequences of Abuse

For our New Year's Resolution we have asked nannies to Be the One to protect children.

Recent well-publicized events have focused attention on sexual abuse of children by trusted adults. The disgust accompanying these reports tend to overlook the problems and pain of physical and verbal abuse. While the reactions of any sort of abuse cannot be predicted with certainty, there are typically certain physical and emotional red flags among victims. Today, we will discuss what we perceive as the psychological behavior that many people expect from victims of abuse.

-- Abuse promotes fear: fear for adults, fear of peers, and fear of authority figures.
-- Fear promotes anxiety which can lead to psychosomatic illness, isolation, and depression.
-- Fear promotes rage, anger, and hate.
-- The insecurities caused by abuse can lead to a lifetime of shame, joylessness, and unfulfilled potential.

Healing can be achieved, but prevention is better. Lifetime internal scarring is impossible to easily treat.

Tomorrow: "Unpredictable" consequences of abuse