f a thousand dollars per day selling himself on the streets of Los Angeles. Sexual abuse can have severe consequences on the mental development of a children. (Mental? Did someone mention mental?) Mental Abuse of a child can involve several different activities. These can involved the common verbal forms, i.e. yelling, neglect, constant insults, etc. They also involve certain forms of mental torture and neglect. Mental abuse is one of the most damaging forms of abuse, because unlike rape or other forms of sexual or physical abuse, mental abuse will be with you all of your life. I would offer this analogy to shed light what I am trying to communicate here. Physical and sexual abuse are like roadblocks in the road of life. They are there for a while, but you get over them eventually. Mental abuse, on the other hand, catalyzes the disillusion of the view of the street. If someone is always insulting you, always telling you that you are no good: then with time, your mind becomes accustomed to it, and begins to believe it. This especially is a damaging consequence for young children and infants, who are as dependent upon mental support as they are for their physiological needs. It is an utter violation of such a relationship. Mental abuse not only affects the child, and the family, but society as a whole. In one of my interviews I received the following response to the question; What do you feel is the greatest misconception about abuse in today's society? We still dont understand how much real damage it does, not only to the child but to society as a whole. Most people never fully recover from child abuse. Our society has never recovered from child abuse... (Kimball E-mail) This brings us to our final area of discussion on the subject of child abuse, that of neglect. Neglect is the most prevalent form of child maltreatment. The statistics are staggering. A recent Study prepared by the American Humane Association states that, nationwide, neg...
