e. They have been abandoned, terrorized, beaten, killed and sexual abused. A major portion of the literature of my review focused on child abuse has dealt with the personality characteristics of the abusive parent and the abused child rather than focus on the psychological damage sustained by the abused child.When we think of a family in a typical setting around the fireplace we may picture a beautiful and calm environment where everything is perfect. The reality here in this domestic tranquility is when we realize that the concept of family is the most frequent place of all types of violence (Gelles, 1979). According to many researchers and organizations the cradle of violence is the family. Psychologist believe that the root of violence rest with the family. Violent parents cause violent children who became violent parents all too often (Domestic violence, 1978). In the psychologist aspects of abuse it has been the abusive parent it has been the parent who has receive the primary attention. This seems understandable from the vantage point that when confronted with cases of child abuse, professionals feeling the immediacy of stopping parents from injuring their children, wanted to understand the adults dynamics in order to then find the appropriate therapeutic interventions. The studies that have looked at abusive parents from a psychological viewpoint have shown them to be individuals with poor object relations, low self-esteem, and poor impulse control and as individuals who make use of defense mechanisms characteristics of an early developmental level. Another study reveals that the abused child from infancy and adolescence has the similar personality characteristics as the abusive parent. The abused children also suffer of poor object relations, impaired impulse control, low self-esteem and the use of defense mechanisms. In addition this children were seen as displaying difficulties with aggression, high anxiety states and di...
