The Horrific Account Of Child Abuse In A Child Called It
Child abuse of all types has a big impact on children’s lives and perceptions of what normal should be. In the book “A Child Called It”, Dave Pelzer, a young boy who was abused by his mother who constantly overlooked and abused him on many levels. She would Inflict many pent up emotions such as a sense of fear, blame, disdain, dread, and self-loathing on him. The trauma this young boy experienced not only impacted him physically but mentally which greatly affected his perceptions of other people and himself. Not only was Pelzer affected but nearly 700,000 children are abused in the U.S annually.
For years, Dave’s mother Catherine Roerva Pelzer beat him and subjected him to countless forms of physical abuse. His mother detested individuals like dave who appear to be more joyful than they are by taking out her disappointment and self-loathing on him. The savageness of his mother was intense one night when she was drinking. She went up to dave with a knife flashing it around him “accidentally” stabbing him. As a result, from a reader’s perspective we can infer that dave’s perceptions are skewed as he believes that it was all an accident and his mother wouldn’t do that. Even though it’s obvious and we have plenty of evidence to prove that everything his mom has done was intentional. A loving mother would not stab her son or even allow situations like that to even take place. Physical abuse leaves dave with a sense of constant fear and unpredictability causing him to be more extreme in his behaviors vs. non abused children. This compares with my other sources as it helps explain the concept of “battered child syndrome.” Battered child syndrome is a clinical condition in children who have gotten genuine physical maltreatment (Tomlinson, L. 2019, December 5).. This maltreatment can extend from a break of any bone, subdural hematoma, inability to flourish, delicate tissue swellings or skin wounding because of physical maltreatment. The reasons why children experience battered child syndrome and abuse is usually caused by a parent who has become an alcoholic or has a personality disorder. In Dave’s case, his mother gave no reasoning behind her actions which was even more frightening to him.
Physical abuse is not the only form of abuse that can take place but also emotional abuse which has a big effect on a child’s decision making, social life, and personality. Dave’s mother made him not know wrong from right 24/7 having him question his every decision. His mother’s punishments were designed to inhibit Dave’s mental growth (silencing him at an age when he should be learning new words, preventing him from learning new information, etc.), perhaps in order to make him even more dependent on her. Dave’s mother would teach her child to be a slave by brainwashing him into repeating “I’m a bad boy.” His mother conditioned the family by normalizing abuse having everyone under her control. She would do this by punishing dave for any reason that can be imagined. For one time his mother guaranteed that she had seen him playing on the grass, which was not allowed what so ever according to her rules. Dave immediately replied, ‘I never played on the grass’. He soon was questioning whether his answer was correct or a mistake. As he was met with his mother’s response which was a punch to the face; according to his mother, he had by one way or another committed an error. His mind was in absolute confusion as the rules that he is told to follow are somehow still broken even when followed. It’s never fully explained why his mother begins abusing Dave; all Pelzer writes is that she begins drinking more heavily (however, there are millions of alcoholic parents who don’t abuse their children). His mother’s cruelty is impossible to understand, the way she manipulates and forces dave as she wishes. Child abuse and neglect negatively impact both neurological and psychological development. Patterns of abuse are learned and repeated in families. Adverse childhood experiences are a risk factor for psychopathology later in life, including borderline personality disorder (BPD) and multiple personality disorder (MP). Forms of personality disorders occur when children are subjected to such conditions. When forms of personality disorders occur there seems to be impairments in self-functioning and interpersonal functioning which affect decisions, personality and social functioning(ej levey, 2016). Abuse affects everyone differently and this is due to how each personality traits, as well as family, operate.
Abuse happens to children in families from varying backgrounds, all things considered, religions and ethnicities. There is no single reason for abuse; rather, it happens because of numerous possible factors that affect the family. Abusive guardians are less stable, warm, fun-loving and responsive with their kids and are bound to utilize cruel order and verbal hostility than positive child-rearing methodologies (e.g., utilizing breaks, thinking, and perceiving and empowering the kid’s successes)(Blitzer R. December 4th). His mother’s remorselessness toward Dave appears to be intended to keep him as powerless, desolate, and terrified as could be expected. She doesn’t want him to have relationships or friends with anyone so she forces him to wear the same clothes every day so that people despise him some even end up urging him to kill himself. In spite of the grimness of his life, Dave finds little ways to fight back against Mother. Even though he’s too young to defeat Mother, he quickly learns the importance of preserving his own dignity—therefore, he vows never to beg for mercy to anyone. This information is reliable and compares with my other sources because it helps explain how abuse leads to improper development of normal emotional and social skills in children.
The emotional well-being of moms has for some time been perceived to influence kids’ well-being. The discoveries of this examination propose that the impacts of child abuse can be reduced profoundly upon the psychological wellness of the dad. In particular, unfavorable impacts of a mother affect the psychological well-being of a kid’s conduct which considerably diminished when a dad announced better emotional well-being (Kahn, R. S. 2004, August 1). When Dave’s Father is home, his mother doesn’t hurt Dave as often. One night, Dave’s father was doing the dishes and says to him know that sometime in the not so distant future, he and Dave will both escape that crazy house. This makes Dave feel somewhat better. Later that day his controlling mother prevents his father from aiding Dave. Dave’s Father constantly discloses to Dave that he’s saddened for everything. Dave’s love for his father gave him hope and he even winds up naming his child after his father, disregarding his dad’s powerlessness and lack of control in the house. Dave at least had his dad who was a shield to him and gave him a sense of love and comfort. The sad thing is even though his dad gave him a slither of love, his dad was still an awful parent who was very passive and would not intervene and stop the abuse. Dave was lucky to have someone like his dad because when both the dad and mother were revealed to have less fortunate psychological wellness, then the impact on a kid’s social development was significant, especially for males.
There is by all accounts a good reason to think about the genetic and environmental transmission of mental issue will continue to affect dave and his future life. To our surprise, Dave turns out to become a great dad and Christian ending the cycle of abuse. Furthermore, he even joined the airforce and become a spokesman for child abuse propagating his ideas to change and help others overcome their troubles. His whole perspective on life has changed to a much happier one. Caregivers need help to educate their youngsters about their emotional wellness issues. Even though parent attitudes and habits affected kids’ lifestyle, it did not stop dave and made him an even stronger person. Kids who are abused usually develop Multiple personality or Borderline personality, There is even a relationship between abuses and specific alternate personality. MPs and BPs morph and change when they are feeling overpowering emotion and as well as when conflicts happen. A hypothetical build that may clarify the rotation of character and the occurrence of MP is that maltreatment makes a child filled with anger. The kid is taught that anger is not a good emotion and that it must not be ‘felt.’ The repression of the rage relegates it to an area of the mind, the unconscious, that is outside of awareness. As repression continues, the feelings build-up, which creates the potential for explosions of feeling when repression breaks down ( Wilbur, C. B. 1984). Children should not live with their parents if the parent has a genuine psychological instability, as contrasted and mild dysfunctional behavior, second that the parent had an addictive disorder, and third that the ill parent was the dad (Rognmo, K. (2019, January 8). This compares with my other sources as this explains how personality can be affected by abuse and have it can impact a person’s life mentally.
Child abuse is a typical issue that occurs around the world, and its physical and psychosocial impacts are felt by children, their communities, and their families. It has been connected to changes in the abused from psychological to social development for the duration of their lives, placing them in danger of taking part in possibly dangerous conduct later on. Family doctors have a significant job in recognizing instances of abuse in children. Their role is important in voicing such cases to social services to prevent further abuse; furthermore giving further information and help to families that are abusive to give them an eye-opening perspective (Rosen, A. L. (1986). His mother is compelled to mislead others about how her child gets his wounds; over time, she uses scare tactics to make Dave lie about his wounds to doctors such as when she stabbed him. It’s shocking how the doctor appears to realize that Mother is lying, but then does nothing to stop her abuse, says a lot about society’s propensity to choose not to see abuse: Dave’s was in some way only abused in light of the fact that his companions, friends, educators, doctors, and neighbors look the other way. When Dave enters the fifth grade, he’s nearly given up on life inside and out. His colleagues bully him and instruct him to murder himself, even his siblings assume of him as the ‘family slave’ and alternate hitting him. In spite of the fact that Dave bears some horrendous torment, his life isn’t totally sad. There are a few people who treat him generous, for example, his substitute teacher. In the book it’s never clarified why the substitute lets Dave remain after school, however, it’s proposed that, to an extent, she could tell that he’s fearful for his family. The way authorities besides the substitute would swallow the excuses made by the Pelzer family suggests that during the 1970s, open familiarity with abuse was low, and individuals were essentially bound to ignore maltreatment compared to how they would in the 21st century.
By 1971, Dave has gotten so used to his maltreatment—something no human ought to ever need to go through, let alone have such a cruel lifestyle become the normal reality. Dave is forced to steal because his mother starves him and even gets punished for stealing even though he was revoked food in the first place. He is still fearful of the unknown and what will happen in the future, he’s coming to acknowledge hypervigilance as an essential piece of his life; although he learned resistance and self-preservation. Unfortunately, Dave keeps on trusting and relying upon Mother, even though she wounds him. Dave has never known any life other than life under Mother’s influence, maybe clarifying why he confides in her. Attachment Disorders are psychiatric illnesses that can develop in young children who have problems in emotional attachments to others. Most children with attachment disorders have had severe problems or difficulties in their early relationships. They may have been physically or emotionally abused or neglected. There are two types of attachment disorders “reactive attachment disorder” (RAD) and “disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED).” Kids with RAD are less inclined to socialize with others as a result of negative encounters with grown-ups in their initial years. They experience issues calming down and don’t search for comfort from their guardians when they are upset. These children may appear to have practically no feelings while interacting with others. They may seem troubled, bad-tempered, irritable, or frightened while doing normal activities. Children with DSED don’t seem dreadful when meeting somebody for the first time. They seem like normal happy kids and some may even go up to strangers to talk with them. when these kids are placed in a more stranger situation, they don’t check with their folks or parental figures, and will regularly go with somebody they don’t have a clue about(Briere, J. N. 1992). From the information given we can infer that Dave would have DSED since he was still strong-willed and not completely repressed. Having at least a few decent relationships from his dad, little brother, to his teacher.
