Childhood Sexual Abuse Left Untreated Can Contribute to
Childhood Sexual Abuse Left Untreated Can Contribute To
Juvenile Delinquency and Psychological Disorders.
Every year thousands of children are abused. This abuse can be physical, emotional or sexual in nature. All forms of abuse are wrong, all forms of abuse are harmful, but childhood sexual abuse can cause major emotional and physical harm in our adolescents. Before we can properly treat these victims we must first have a solid grasp of how and why sexual abuse occurs, the typical effects of the abuse and how the abuse changes the child's stages of development. In recent years a great deal of interest has been placed on delinquent behavior and the causes that contribute to it. Media blames music, movies, games, and videos, but they do not dig deep enough to find the true causes of this dilemma. As I mentioned earlier physical, emotional, and sexual abuse play a crucial role to the developing child, but when a child is abused sexually they are robbed of their childhood and the abuse if left untreated can lead them astray. According to Erik Erikson (1902 1994) a person's development is organized into eight stages. He categorizes these stages as The Oral
2
Sensory Stage (birth to 18 months), Early Childhood (18 months to 3 years), Play Age (3 to 5 years), School Age (6 to 12 years), Adolescence ( 12 to 18 years), Young Adulthood (18 to 35), Middle Adulthood (35 to 55 or 65), and Late Adulthood (55 or 65 to death). Even though all stages of development are important, for the purpose of this paper I will concentrate on the first four, which directly affect the fifth stage, which is adolescence. Depending on what age the child is when the onset of abuse occurs determines which stage of development is effected, and what stage(s) are retarded. During the first stage (birth to 18 months) the basic development of trust and mistrust are established. Even if the child passes through this stage successfully a child can regress because of the abuse. During the
Juvenile Delinquency and Psychological Disorders.
Every year thousands of children are abused. This abuse can be physical, emotional or sexual in nature. All forms of abuse are wrong, all forms of abuse are harmful, but childhood sexual abuse can cause major emotional and physical harm in our adolescents. Before we can properly treat these victims we must first have a solid grasp of how and why sexual abuse occurs, the typical effects of the abuse and how the abuse changes the child's stages of development. In recent years a great deal of interest has been placed on delinquent behavior and the causes that contribute to it. Media blames music, movies, games, and videos, but they do not dig deep enough to find the true causes of this dilemma. As I mentioned earlier physical, emotional, and sexual abuse play a crucial role to the developing child, but when a child is abused sexually they are robbed of their childhood and the abuse if left untreated can lead them astray. According to Erik Erikson (1902 1994) a person's development is organized into eight stages. He categorizes these stages as The Oral
2
Sensory Stage (birth to 18 months), Early Childhood (18 months to 3 years), Play Age (3 to 5 years), School Age (6 to 12 years), Adolescence ( 12 to 18 years), Young Adulthood (18 to 35), Middle Adulthood (35 to 55 or 65), and Late Adulthood (55 or 65 to death). Even though all stages of development are important, for the purpose of this paper I will concentrate on the first four, which directly affect the fifth stage, which is adolescence. Depending on what age the child is when the onset of abuse occurs determines which stage of development is effected, and what stage(s) are retarded. During the first stage (birth to 18 months) the basic development of trust and mistrust are established. Even if the child passes through this stage successfully a child can regress because of the abuse. During the