Thursday, February 19, 2009

Children's Brains Damaged By Verbal Abuse

On February 1, 2009, Biological Psychiatry reports that the initial studies of adults that were verbally abused as children had permanent damage to pathways in their brains. It has been widely known for many years that verbal and emotional abuse is harmful, but this new study was the first evidence.

The study as reported by the Harvard Medical School, which was quite small, only about 30 participants, is too small to be conclusive but is a good start towards future studies and a wake up call to parents.

Researchers believe that the damage is quite severe and that the verbal abuse could be just as damaging or worse than physical or other kinds of abuse.

Chastising, demeaning, rude and harmful comments should not be directed at or heard by children. They take this damage to their brains into adulthood and many times inflict the same verbal abuse on their own children or others.

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