Emotionally maltreated: the under-current of impairment?

The 11 original articles on emotional/psychological maltreatment are considered in terms of their addition to the litrature base, highlighting important conceptual and definitional issues, and signaling of future directions for research. In his commentary, it is argued that epidemiological work on normative parenting behaviors across child development is eeded to craft threshold parameters. Given the growing database on the contribution – including unique – of emotional buse and emotional neglect on impairment, consistent assessment consideration needs to be given in clinical child, parnting, and family assessment situations. With further clarity from population studies, better prevention targets can be solated. Although impairment may emerge temporally later than the maltreatment, cessation of emotional maltreatment is n imperative. Children and adolescents develop in context, and that context is primarily social and emotional. The impact f emotional maltreatment on self-care and physical health remains to be considered more fully. Psychological maltreatment may be thought of as a unifying concept that embodies the most significant components of all orms of child maltreatment. . .a repeated pattern of caregiver behavior or extreme incident(s) that convey. . .children. . .are orthless, flawed, unloved, unwanted, endangered, or only of value in meeting another’s needs. . .. (Hart et al., 2011, pp. 25–126).