A new frontier in mental health prevention: Targeting child emotional abuse

Project Details

Child emotional abuse is repeated parental behaviour that conveys to the child they are worthless, unloved, unwanted, or only of value in meeting another’s needs. It is widespread and equally as harmful as child sexual or physical abuse, doubling the risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-harm, and suicide attempts in adults. Yet emotional abuse has been neglected as a target for prevention. There is very little awareness of the impact of emotional abuse and there is a critical need for an "emotion revolution" in what we say to our children and how we say it. This project is building the evidence base for effectively driving change in public understanding of how to prevent and respond to child emotional abuse.

Researchers

A/Prof Amy Morgan (Project Lead)
ajmorgan@unimelb.edu.au

Funding

Medical Research Future Fund (Mental Health Research Stream 2-3)