Impacts of Child Abuse
Good follow-up will help a child cope with or overcome the following impacts of abuse:
Internalized behavior
- Withdrawn and unmotivated
- Anxious, phobic, hypervigilant
- Clinical signs of depression
- Sleep disorders or night terrors
- Regressive behavior
- Somatic complaints
- Eating disorder/substance abuse
- Suicide gesture
- Self mutilation, skin carving
- Dissociation, PTSD
Externalized behavior
- Aggressive
- Hostile
- Destructive—fire setting
- Provocative (eliciting abuse)
- Violent
- Killing or torturing animals
- Sexualized behavior
- Re-enactment
