Long term effects of domestic violence?

child witnessed abuse. occassionally recieved some physical abuse, often recieved mental and emotional.

abuse began when child was 8 and lasted for 5 1/2 years. child is female.

low self esteem convinced you must have done something wrong lack of trust of either sex and very much a loner am far happier in my own company than in somebody elses also find that if people are getting to close that i find ways of pushing them away

to adelina just to say if you want to contact me you can email me [arniesmum] just to talk to steam off whatever my email address is rosemaryrobinson@yahoo.co.uk any time doesnt matter Report It

I can't say, but I was abused my my dad and often saw him abuse my mom and brother.. and now I'm a complete mess.

Domestic violence occurs in all cultures; people of all races, ethnicities, religions, and classes can be perpetrators of domestic violence. Domestic violence is perpetrated by, and on, both men and women, and occurs in same-sex and opposite-sex relationships.

Awareness and documentation of domestic violence differs from country to country. According to the Centers for Disease Control domestic violence is a serious, preventable public health problem affecting more than 32 million Americans, that is more than 10% of the U.S. population

Domestic violence has many forms, including physical violence, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, intimidation, economic deprivation or threats of violence. There are a number of dimensions:

mode - physical, psychological, sexual and/or social
frequency - on/off, occasional, chronic
severity 鈥?in terms of both psychological or physical harm and the need for treatment 鈥?transitory or permanent injury 鈥?mild, moderate, severe up to homicide
The means used to measure domestic violence strongly influence the results found. For example, studies of reported domestic violence and extrapolations of those studies show women preponderantly as victims and men to be more violent, whereas the survey based Conflict Tactics Scale, tends to show men and women equally violent.

Well, the child, being female, will think that, that is the way all men treat women like that. So, she will grow up, thinking men whom treat her like that will be great.

Great question. I was abused most of my childhood, then married an ****** who abused me and my children. I would have to say that the abuse I suffered as a child made me kind of reclusive. My goal in life was to survive, not to have fun. It took many years for the survival instincts to wear off to the point that I could just be happy. I was always looking over my shoulder, couldn't trust ANYONE, and had a hard time making new friends.

As for the abuse suffered through the marriage, I put myself into a "hard shell" (Hence the nickname Turtle) to keep anyone from hurting me. My oldest daughter is 11 (emotional, physical abuse ages 4-9) has a slight mental handicap to begin with from lead poisoning, but she seems to be thriving pretty well now that she knows she safe. My 8 yr old doesn't really seem to be adjusting well to new things, ANY new things. She's an emotinal wreck most of the time. My 7 yr old is partially deaf and partially blind, and she has temper tantrums, but she seems to be adjusting better than the other 2. Maybe that's because of her disabilities, she didn't see or hear much of what went on.
My son is almost 5, and he is a holy terror. But now that we're away from my ex-husband, my son is growing into a mature, happy little boy. My baby will be 2, but he never really got to know my ex, we split when my baby was only 6 months old.
As for your daughter, I think that you should get her into counseling with someone who knows how to handle therapy for a child enduring domestic abuse problems. Give her LOTS of hugs, tell her you love her, that she's safe, and get her involved in some kind of activity (a sport, etc) where she can get her emotions out in a positive way, and have something else to focus on.

And YOU should not forget yourself. You need to talk through what's happened to you, and sort thru your emotions to become healthy again. I will keep you both in my prayers.