Is Child Abuse Getting Worse? It sure seems like it. - Warning-HORRIBLE

[MaryH]

Just saw a horrible report from Plano - woman cut of 11 month old's arms. Baby died on way to hospital.

Is this war making all of us more violent - or more tolerant of violence?

[commander bunnypants]

1. just some sick mofo's in this world

cb

[Phillycat]

2. WHOA, I did not need to read that.

Would you mind putting a warning into your subject line?

[mcscajun]

5. Indeed!

I stopped reading local newspapers years ago because there was too much Shock News in 'em.

I know there are horrible things happening in the world at almost any moment. I don't need the details or to have these things in my psyche.

[the Princess]

3. Oh Jeez

How horrific!

Yes our society is more tolerant of violence.

[tjwash]

11. Tolerant? Our society LOVES violence.

That's what all the shrub voters want, more electric chairs, more gallows, more prisons, hell at this rate, we will have half the population in prison, and the other half making minimum wage at wal-sears-k-tar-mart.

Show everyone a titty though, even for a split second, and watch the sparks fly....

[the Princess]

16. Ya know you're right

Our society does love violence. And with Shrub in the white house it's only gonna get worse.

[undergroundpanther]

4. child abuse is just outv of the closet now.

http://www.naturalchild.com/alice_miller/childhood_trauma.html
Since adolescence I have wondered why so many people take pleasure in humiliating others. Clearly the fact that some are sensitive to the suffering of others proves that the destructive urge to hurt is not a universal aspect of human nature. So why do some tend to solve their problems by violence while others don't?
http://eqi.org/amiller.htm#For%20your%20own%20good:%20Hidden%20cruelty%20in%20childrearing%20and%20the%20roots%20of%20violence.
Bully damage
http://www.bullyonline.org/stress/health.htm

http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/05_history.html

Indeed, my conclusion from a lifetime of psychohistorical study of childhood and society is that the history of humanity is founded upon the abuse of children. Just as family therapists today find that child abuse often functions to hold families together as a way of solving their emotional problems, so, too, the routine assault of children has been society's most effective way of maintaining its collective emotional homeostasis. Most historical families once practiced infanticide, erotic beating and incest. Most states sacrificed and mutilated their children to relieve the guilt of adults. Even today, we continue to arrange the daily killing, maiming, molestation and starvation of children through our social, military and economic activities. I would like to summarize here some of the evidence I have found as to why child abuse has been humanity's most powerful and most successful ritual, why it has been the cause of war and social violence, and why the eradication of child abuse and neglect is the most important social task we face today.

http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/06_politic.html

Lastly an article I wrote about this..Home is where the hurt is the roots of war.

http://web.pitas.com/page6/upits101102.html

[chookie]

9. I feel the same way

You seem to be an exceptionally insightful and empathetic person.

I agree -- abuse and bullying are so much a part of our culture, and so many people operate on this level -- that most of it just gets ignored in one way or another.

Hell -- this mindset can take over businesses, organizations, corporations, and even whole governments.

It hurts, mains, and sometimes destroys people. But sometimes it inspires people to confront it and fight it. People like you. I'm glad you're around.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

6. I don't believe so

if you look at children throughout history, some pretty horrible things happened to them, often just as a matter of routine living.

I was an abused child myself. Obviously my mother never cut off my arms, but we were sytematically abused on a near-constant basis from about two years old until we (brother and I) moved out.

Got the scars and x-rays of broken bones to prove it.

The woman who did that is sick, in more than one way. We need to understand what was wrong with her. Lacking that, I can't comment further.

[Beware the Beast Man]

7. I think this is the way it has always been.

It's just that through the "convenience" of TV and the internet, we get to quickly hear about such horrific stories in all their glorious detail. That's not to say that people aren't desensitized to violence these days, though.

[knowbody0]

8. might be me but

it seems as though random senseless acts of violence are rampant right now. as though the temperature has risen in amerika and that this is just the beginning

[MaryH]

10. Seems like I read some awful thing about child abuse every day in

the Kansas City Star. All of it awful. But more seems to be stress related.

[knowbody0]

12. 9 years ago i adopted

three sibling abuse victims aged 4, 4 and 5.
they had been deemed unadoptable due to the abuse. catagorized "feral"

[GCP]

13. I would think the mother was mentally ill to have done this n/t

[Padraig18]

14. The stories Tony could tell you would curl your hair.

The only time I ever saw Tony come home from work in tears was after a case of a child who died after being shaken; sadly, the shaking was only the final act in the poor little lamb's tragic life. The baby also had multiple healed and unhealed fractures, a ruptured liver and a perforated bowel. The father had shaken it because it wouldn't quit crying! :wtf:

Tony said it took great self-restraint to not whip out his pistol and administer some 'street justice' on the spot. He still has trouble talking about the case.

:cry:

[tjwash]

15. My wife's a social worker too...

...and works with abused children, and battered women. Let me tell you, the amount of emotional stuff she has to put up with on a daily basis is astounding.

[Pithlet]

28. I don't know if I could do it.

I don't know how Tony does it. Poor baby :(

[liontamer]

17. Not more horrible, just more visible

especially with the media scouring the world for dramatic stories. Some pretty horrible things probably happened on your street when you were growing up, you just weren't aware of it.

[radwriter0555]

18. I agree... I don't think the incidents per capita have increased, I

believe we just hear about them so much more now...

And some people are really, really really really really really really fucked up..

We so desperately need much much better mental health care for everyone....

[YellowRubberDuckie]

19. Horrible things have always happened to children...

But there was this arcaic belief that you didn't butt in with other people's kids. It just wasn't done. If it was blatant and it got someone in to the hospital, they sometimes did something about it, but kids have pretty much been a class of people not protected from those who are supposed to love them the most and protect them from all that is horrible in the world.

On edit: Link to story in case anyone wants it.
http://www.wjactv.com/news/3940422/detail.html


Duckie

[Deja Q]

20. I've seen a few couples denigrate their children in open public...

Not all at once and I still see a few decent parents, but the number of 'parents' openly telling their children 'You are such a brat!' (or worse) in condescending tones is increasing.

When they come of age, they'll be have enough violent traits to make good soldiers. :crazy:

[lil-petunia]

21. much like other issues, looking at the news makes for bad analysis

Is child abuse up? unknown. probably not. Was it rarely reported on in the decades preceding the 1980s? absolutely. Just like divorce, these topics were simply not mentioned. It simply was not done.

Look how well the Church managed to hide its own abuse of kids for decades, first and foremost because people were embarrassed to discuss tough issues, later, through intimidation and threats.

I suspect that child abuse has gone up and down (slightly) with lots of factors, education, economic standards, schooling, publicity. Like measures of domestic violence, there is a major problem about simply getting a report made. Secondly, kids are notoriously poor reporters of fact and are easily susceptible to being swayed. (remember those hypnotized kids who sent child care workers to life sentences until the whole issue collapsed?) No matter how cute they seem on TV dramas, the vast majority of kids are horrible on the stand and are often just trying to please the questioner. a 4-7 year old simply does not have the mental acuity to deal with the issues of right and wrong, lying or truth-telling, especially when it concerns mommy and daddy.

Today's health care and school workers are trained to spot and report abuse signs. For that reason alone, levels of reporting have gone up, only because the numbers of reports are finally approaching the actual levels of abuse. It does NOT mean that the level of abuse has gone up. It just means the reporting has improved.

Lastly, I also suspect that reporting levels still miss a lot of abuse. Kids are hidden away, the guilty move to new areas, or social morals in those states and regions support the stick as a perfectly good form of education.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

22. Nixon's Resignation was it for me.

I was six years old and my Dem grandmother took me in and sat me down in front of the TV to watch is speech. She said, "remember this baby girl, this is justice."

[bloodyjack]

23. People have ALWAYS been cruel towards one another

especially towards those who are unable to defend themselves.

[skygazer]

24. No, we just hear about it more

Mass media makes it easier to hear all the horror stories that were only known locally before. Child abuse, incest, domestic violence, kidnapping, rape, etc. - they've been around for centuries. A couple of years back, there were a number of high profile child abductions - people were saying it was an epidemic. It turned out that the number of child abductions is about the same as it was 20 years ago - we just hear about them more.

Especially when the media latch onto a particular subject and cover every story pertaining to it. It seems like there are a lot more of these things happening but it's really that we're hearing it more.

Of course, it is horrible whenever it happens. Sad story.

[fleabert]

25. after reading the link I have some thoughts

I am not excusing this woman's actions. Please, no one flame me for this.

I am a birth and postpartum doula (meaning I work with pg moms and newborns) and postpartum depression is a very serious illness. In most cases, it is mild, but there are the rare and horrific cases where it reaches psychosis. Please, everyone read up on the causes and symptoms of ppd and don't keep quiet if you think you know a new mother that might be suffering. She could be in danger, and so could her kids. What these moms need is support and help, and if this mom was suffering from severe ppd, like the article mentioned, not enough was done; she was investigated before the child was killed.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/1/t012600.asp

>snip<
Postpartum Depression occurs in 10 to 15 percent of deliveries. It is much more than the standard "baby blues" discussed above. Most cases begin within the first few weeks after delivery, but onset can be delayed for several months. Symptoms include:


Depressed mood
Agitation
Fatigue
Lack of interest in pleasurable activities
Poor concentration and decision making
Poor appetite
Insomnia
Feelings of failure as a mother
Guilt
Unusual worry over infant's health
Suicidal thoughts
How can you distinguish the difference between routine baby blues and postpartum depression? To diagnose postpartum depression, the following criteria must be met:


Symptoms persist for more than 2 weeks
Depressed mood or lack of interest in pleasurable activities must occur much of the day, almost every day
At least four of the remaining symptoms must be present
Other characteristics of postpartum depression that emphasize the importance of prevention and treatment for this disorder include:


It affects 30 percent of adolescent deliveries.
Many cases last more than six months, and untreated, can persist for over a year.
Many women will go on to have recurrent psychiatric disorders year after the postpartum depression resolves.
In moderate to severe cases, some women will refuse to have any more children.
Children of mothers with postpartum depression have a higher risk of behavioral problems and show lower scores on intellectual testing.
Untreated, postpartum depression can have a devastating impact on the mother/infant relationship.
Because the ramifications of this disorder are so widespread, it is extremely important to identify prenatally those women who are at higher risk. Factors include:


History of a mood disorder prior to pregnancy. One half of women with postpartum depression will have such a prior history.
Postpartum depression with a previous child. There is a 30 percent chance of having the disorder with subsequent children.
Education about this disorder during prenatal classes can make families more aware of the risk factors and signs to watch for during the early postpartum weeks.

It is unclear exactly what causes postpartum depression, but research has shown that genetic risk, situational stresses, changes in a variety of hormones, and changes in certain chemicals in the brain may all play a roll in triggering this disorder.



>snip<

POSTPARTUM PSYCHOSIS
It is this extreme form of postpartum depression that has made the medical community and the general public more aware of postpartum mood disorders. Symptoms include (in addition to those above) delusions, hallucinations of the infant suffering from illness or even dying, severely impaired day-to-day functioning, and suicidal or homicidal thoughts. This severe disorder affects one or two per thousand deliveries. This is about 12 times the occurrence of psychosis in non-pregnant women. It usually begins during the first month, but can be delayed for 3 months. It is extremely important for the family and the doctor to recognize these symptoms so that immediate treatment and safeguards can be initiated.

[AlCzervik]

26. here in Sacramento it's been a bad year for infants and toddlers

we've had case after case of children murdered by their parents. The last one was about 3 months ago, a set of twins that were 9 months old beaten to death by the crack addict mother.

[Pithlet]

27. It's probably gettingt worse, and

We're hearing about it more often, it seems. Children bear the brunt of societies ills, and always have. Child abuse and neglect often stem from and/or are aggravated by depression and mental illness, stress, drug abuse and lack of a support system, and those are all things that increase with poverty and when funding for much needed programs are cut.