Emotionally Harmful Parenting

Emotional maltreatment tends to be overshadowed in research and in practice by other forms of maltreatment that present more obvious and explicit evidence and appear to require a more urgent response. This article aims to explore a growing body of research pointing to: (a) ways in which emotional maltreatment may adversely impact upon a child’s development and functioning; (b) factors that practitioners may wish to consider when determining whether significant harm has occurred or is likely to occur in cases of emotional maltreatment; and (c) various levels of intervention that may be usefully applied to build stronger attachment and relationship with parents or carers and to reduce emotionally harmful behaviour of the carers.