From: logical23x@gmail.com   
      
   Brothers And Sisters Of Abuse Victims Often Help Cover Up Or Even Commit   
   Abuse, Study Suggests    
   Date:    
   March 6, 2008    
   Source:    
   Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters    
   Summary:    
   Authorities often fail to recognize or treat the physic damage suffered by   
   siblings in families where only one child is abused. In chilling anecdotes   
   extrapolated from cases, the study chronicles how parents can force siblings   
   to become either    
   emotionally numb or hostile toward the abuse victim.    
   Share:    
            
   FULL STORY    
   In many cases, when abusive parents with multiple children target just one   
   child for emotional or physical cruelty, authorities often remove the abused   
   child from the home and return the non-abused siblings.    
      
      
   But brothers and sisters of abused children can suffer lifelong emotional   
   scars from helping parents conceal the abuse or, in extreme cases, from being   
   forced to participate in torturing their siblings, according to a study   
   published in the current issue    
   of the Journal of Emotional Abuse.    
      
   While psychologists have repeatedly studied the lifelong emotional carnage of   
   untreated abuse victims, scant attention has been paid to their siblings,   
   according to author Jane Hollingsworth, a licensed clinical psychologist and   
   executive director of the    
   Child Abuse Program at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.    
      
   "Many children survive by becoming callous to the suffering or even torture of   
   their brothers and sisters," Hollingsworth. "Those children require therapy,   
   but don't get it."    
      
   The article, co-authored by Hollingsworth and Joanne Glass, a child abuse   
   social worker, distills what these clinicians have learned handling hundreds   
   of cases at the hospital's Child Abuse Program.    
      
   The King's Daughters program gathers forensic evidence for police and   
   prosecutors in jurisdictions throughout Virginia and also provides counseling   
   to victims. in dozens of cases throughout their careers, Hollingsworth and   
   Glass have seen parents who    
   focused all their abusive rage on one child, a "scapegoat," as they term it.    
      
   In chilling anecdotes extrapolated from cases, the study chronicles how   
   parents can force siblings to become either emotionally numb or hostile toward   
   the abuse victim. "The coldness of the calculated torment of children detailed   
   in these case histories    
   is so disturbing that it is easy to overlook the effects on siblings," the   
   study observes.    
      
   In one case, Francine (not her real name), a first-grader, was locked in a   
   nine-square-foot closet for eight weeks. She was fed only dry cereal, water   
   and bread.    
      
   "She could not lie down except in a very cramped position," the study relates.   
   The abuse of Francine "escalated into beatings with a wire antenna... The   
   children were encouraged to harm their sister."    
      
   When the therapist spoke to members of the family "all the children agreed   
   that John, the brother who had once taken pity on Francine and released her   
   briefly, was the mother's chief assistant in tormenting his sister."    
      
   In the vast majority of cases, brothers and sisters of the abused child are   
   returned to the home without treatment. In cases such as this, Francine would   
   be treated, and John would be ignored.    
      
   Children such as John "have been taught to be callous, even cruel, to their   
   sibling," said Glass. "Deliberately depriving children of the chance to love a   
   brother or a sister is emotionally abusive. The message to these siblings is   
   that it isn't safe to    
   identify with their brother or sister."    
      
   Untreated, John may suffer an "empathy deficit," the inability to feel empathy   
   for the targeted child and possibly others, a hallmark characteristic of both   
   abuse victims and perpetrators.    
      
   While researchers have documented the chaotic lives of untreated abuse   
   victims, the authors could find little research documenting how child abuse   
   affected the lives of brothers and sisters of scapegoated children.    
      
   The study offers a guide to identifying cases in which siblings of scapegoated   
   children are at risk and urges therapists to identify and treat these   
   collateral victims.    
      
   They also urge researchers to investigate whether the psychic damage to   
   siblings plays out in the dysfunctional lives common to untreated abuse   
   victims.    
      
      
   Story Source:    
      
   Materials provided by Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.    
      
   Cite This Page:    
   MLA    
   APA    
   Chicago    
   Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. "Brothers And Sisters Of Abuse   
   Victims Often Help Cover Up Or Even Commit Abuse, Study Suggests."   
   ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 March 2008. .    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)