Everyone has once in their life felt a little neglected. It could be that you neglected yourself or your health. Maybe a loved one has left you, which leads to the feeling of you being neglected. You also may have been neglected, maybe as a kid or as an adult. It has happened, and neglect can lead to many negative effects. It is important if you feel this sort of way or have been neglected, to seek support. Getting the help you need is important to help you feel better and to get back on your feet.
What is neglect?
There are 4 types of neglect and each neglect is most commonly heard within childcare. Neglect is mostly known as a failure to meet certain needs of a person or child in most instances. Neglect comes under as a form of abuse.
The 4 types of neglect
As I have already mentioned, there are 4 types of neglect and probably more if you include the ways you can neglect yourself and your health too.
- Physical Neglect. Physical neglect can be either to yourself or someone else. This is where you fail to meet the physical needs of yourself or someone you care for. Failure to provide food, clothing, and shelter. Also, failure to supervise the one you care for or inappropriate supervision.
- Emotional Neglect. Emotional neglect is when you fail to meet the emotional needs of yourself or someone you are taking care of. Allowing a child to take drugs and alcohol also comes under emotional neglect. Also, failure to help cope with mental health comes under here. You should always try to support yourself and the people you care for when it comes to mental health.
- Medical Neglect. Medical neglect is when you fail to meet the medical needs of yourself or a person you are caring for. Also, failing to provide or allow access to medical treatment comes under medical neglect.
- Educational Neglect. Educational neglect is when you fail to meet the needs of education for the one you care for and yourself. You may fail to support your child or yourself when it comes to education. This could be not studying or allowing your child to play video games instead of doing homework or failing to help them with homework. Also, failing to provide special education needs for those who may need it can come as neglect.
Why is neglect so common?
Neglect is very common for many reasons. However, it varies from person to person. One person may not be ready for a child so a lack of education on how to care for one may be a reason. There are a lot of people who can’t afford or don’t have a support bubble or some form of support. Stress can also be a common factor which can be the common reason that neglect happens. Neglect is a common form of abuse, it comes down to how educated you are for caring for someone and if you have the mental capacity to care for someone. Neglect is too common, 1 in 7 children suffer from neglect or have experienced some other form of child abuse.
So, what are the reasons for neglect?
As already stated, there are many reasons for neglect. But, here are lists of reasons behind neglect. Neglect commonly occurs in families. Mostly families that are under pressure or have a lack of support. This can lead to stress and finding it difficult to even care for someone.
- Poor parenting skills
- Poor stress coping skills
- Lack of support in general
- Money problems
- Mental health issues in others in the family
- Unsupportive family and family systems
- Stressful life circumstances
- Past experiences
- Poor education on how to care for someone or yourself
- Bad mental health
Signs of neglect
If you think someone you know is being neglected, there are tell-tale signs that can help you decide if that’s true or not. There are also ways you can help support someone. But firstly, the signs of neglect are being frequently absent from school, inappropriate or incorrect clothing, constantly being hungry, and lacking dental or medical care. There are many more such as poor language or social skills, begging, stealing things like money or food, living in an unsuitable environment, and much more.
What are the effects of neglect?
Neglect can have massive effects on a person’s life and even can be the cause of mental illness. Each effect caused by neglect is a negative effect as no good comes from being neglected or neglecting someone. So how does it affect us? It first causes issues with brain development. This in return means that children or adults who have been neglected will have a slower brain development. This makes it harder for them to learn, make friends, socialize, and lower confidence. This can also cause them to take risks in the future by overusing drugs and drinking alcohol. Using drugs and drinking alcohol can lead to serious health issues. Neglect also can cause mental health issues.
Neglect can cause a child to develop bad habits, have a lower IQ, and their brain cognitive function slowers and this makes it harder for them to learn. They also may find it difficult to learn and pick up bad behaviors.
What are the effects of neglect on your mental health?
Neglect has been a common reason for some children to develop mental health problems. This means that children who were neglected have a higher risk of developing anxiety, depression, psychoses, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Meaning 1 in 7 children who have experienced neglect and other abuse are more likely to develop mental health issues.
Neglect can affect our mental health in many ways too which varies from person to person. Those who suffer from chronic depression may find it hard to keep relationships due to a lack of trust and fear to be neglected again. Others may suffer from ADHD or develop it in the future due to neglect. Neglect can really affect how people learn to cope and can also lead to them doing the same in the future to children or others they may need to care for. There are also risks of aggression and anger problems. It causes anxiety to worsen.
