Single Paper or Case Study

Emotional Abuse and Neglect: Increased Vulnerability

Primary Presenter(s)

• 

  Paula Thomson, PsyD

  Professor and Clinical Psychologist
  California State University, Northridge
  Studio City, California

The profound negative effects of emotional abuse and neglect are often overshadowed by more overt physical and sexual abuse. In this IRB approved study, participants (n = 766) completed the Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire (ACE), Dissociative Experience Scale-II (DES-II), Internalize Shame Scale (ISS), Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Traumatic Events Questionnaire (TEQ), Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (ICMI), and Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Two groups were compared: (1) emotional neglect versus no emotional neglect, and (2) emotional abuse and no emotional abuse. The data was entered into SPSS 24. Multivariate analyses of covariance (with age and gender as covariates) and stepwise regression analyses were calculated. The results indicated that emotional abuse and emotional neglect groups experienced more traumatic events, shame, dissociation, anxiety, fantasy proneness, depression, and difficulty with emotion regulation. The emotional neglect group faired worse on all factors compared to the emotional abuse group, although participants in the emotional abuse group had more physical abuse. It is recommended that clinicians evaluate patients’ emotional abuse/neglect history as well as physical and sexual abuse. These patients should be assessed for multiple psychopathology symptoms including dissociation, shame, anxiety, depression, and difficulty with emotion regulation.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to identify differences between groups with histories of emotional abuse and emotional neglect
• Participants will be able to recognize sub-categories of negative emotional difficulties and subcategories of internalized shame
• Participants will be able to identify other childhood adversity factors experienced by participants exposed to emotional abuse and emotional neglect
• Participants will be able to discuss predictor factors associated with emotional dysregulation
• Participants will be able to identify dissociation, including depersonalization in relationship to emotional abuse and neglect