--- On Fri, 5/22/09, heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk <heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> The categories of emotional abuse
> within the the NSPCC's report range from
> 'psychological controls', which include factors like
> 'mother
> unpredictable', through to 'proxy attacks', which include
> 'parent got rid
> of your pet'. Other categories include 'psycho/physical
> control and
> domination'; 'humiliation', for example 'shouted or
> screamed at regularly
> over the years'; 'withdrawal', for example 'given too
> little attention as
> a child'; 'antipathy', for example 'father disliked you';
> and finally
> 'terrorising', for example 'sometimes really afraid of
> father/mother'.
>
> None of those are things that parents would be proud of,
> but most I know
> have done something like it from time to time. I guess that
> makes us all
> abusers.
[WS:} All of the above can be extremely abusive in certain contexts and not at all abusive in other contexts. That is true of all human behavior, sex - (rape vs. consensual but non-conventional), work, even internet communication http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/11/vigilante_justice.
The purpose of listing potentially abusive behaviors is to remove guesswork and make it easier to identify abuse for those who have a legal obligation to do so. I do not know about the UK, but virtually all US states have the so called mandated reporter laws, which require all those who come to contact with children in the course of their professional duties (e.g. teachers, medical professionals, social workers etc.) to report all suspected cases of child abuse. If you were hired as, say, a teacher in the US, you would have to sign a mandated reporter clause saying that you may go to jail if you fail to report a suspected case of abuse.
The crux of the matter is that the mandated reporter must report all suspected abuse case, rather than investigate whether the suspicion is substantiated. This investigation is the job of the proper child welfare agency. Needless to say that this puts a lot of professionals in a precarious position - they do not want to overreact, but they do not want to risk failure to report either.
This is why identifying potentially abusive behavior is very important in mandated reporting - and a lot training courses do just that - sensitize mandated reporters to recognize potential abuse. Of course, this involves a proper judgment, taking into consideration the context in which a given behavior occurs, its frequency, severity etc. But there is nothing wrong in identifying behaviors that may be abusive (or may not in a different setting.)
Wojtek