“My Reality is Just Different From Yours, That Doesn’t Mean I’m Crazy.” Exploring the Impact of Childhood Emotional Abuse on Adult Emotional Adjustment

ABSTRACT

Childhood emotional abuse (CEA) is a pervasive set of destructive behaviors that has negative effects lasting into adulthood. In order to examine these negative effects, it is important to determine the links between CEA and adult adjustment, i.e., how various forms of abuse are dealt with by the recipients, and how effective different coping strategies are. A small-scale online survey was developed that included questions designed to elicit both qualitative and quantitative data, to facilitate the collection of rich and useful data, while maintaining participant anonymity. The survey was disseminated via social media and a number of charitable organizations working with adult victims of child abuse. Using qualitative and quantitative analytical procedures, research findings suggested how childhood experiences of emotional abuse impact on adulthood. The findings also exposed a potentially effective coping strategy that could be incorporated into practice settings. The identified coping strategy, reading was reported as effective when employed in both childhood and adulthood and may help clients cope with abusive experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Coping strategy
• disclosure
• emotional abuse
• mental health
• reading

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the aforementioned charities: Help for Adult Victims of Child Abuse (HAVOCA), National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) and Mankind in the data collection stage of this research. The authors also wish to thank all participants who completed the survey and shared personal experiences for the development of this research.

Disclosure of Interest

The authors were not funded by any agency other than the University of Huddersfield, and therefore there is no conflict of interest to declare.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

Prior to any participant recruitment, this project was reviewed and approved by a university research ethics panel. Approval was granted for this research as all methods and measures taken adhered to the ethical guidelines provided by the British Psychological Society (BPS). The only exclusion criteria for this research was any participants under the age of 18. All information regarding the study was provided to participants prior to the request for written consent, participants then had the choice whether to continue and complete the survey or disregard it with no consequence. A detailed debrief was provided for participants who completed the survey and contact details were provided for a variety of additional supportive organizations and help lines, e.g., Victim support, Rape crisis, and Mind. Information was also provided in the form of contact details for the NSPCC to assist any person wishing to voice concerns regarding a child following the completion of the survey.