Awareness key to successful campaign against child abuse: Experts

NEW DELHI: The horrific stories of child abuse that emerge almost daily highlight the serious question about the changing behaviour of Indian society. Children are the most vulnerable section of society.

Experts have averred that 'awareness' among the masses is imperative to deal with the menace of child abuse. Psychologists elaborated on the role and responsibilities of stakeholders under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Clinical psychologist Dr Kamna Chhibber, Department of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences, Fortis Healthcare, said that cases of child abuse can take different forms and can include abuse of a physical, verbal, or sexual nature.

"Most cases are from all sections of the society. In the last 10 years, I have learnt that any kind of abuse is not limited to social strata. It is not that those who are poor are abused more. Emotional trauma and neglect happen across society, across socioeconomic status and demographics," said Dr Jaya Sukul, Clinical Psychologist at Marengo QRG Hospital in Faridabad, Haryana.

Though the abused children get counselling, it is also a challenge for psychologists to build a positive environment for them. "Working with children who have experienced abuse involves building a secure and safe space and first and foremost a trusting relationship with them so that they can feel comfortable enough in being able to share their experiences with the therapist," said Dr Chhibber.

"This can take a significant amount of time because they have experienced substantial abuse. Their basic ability to trust adults around them gets compromised and as a result, a lot of patience is required, and therapists typically tend to go extremely slow," she said.

"In working with the child in such situations, the focus immediately is not on trying to elicit what the nature of the abuse was or how it has impacted the child, but to try and build a rapport by helping the child feel that they can trust this person who is now around them and is helping them cope with their situation," said Dr Chhibber. "It's only post-building of the relationship and the creation of a rapport that some instances can be inquired about, and the child is not pushed to disclose or share information beyond what they're comfortable with," she added.

"A lot of people are not able to fight abuse or undergo cycles of abuse because they do not know what they have done to deserve the abuse. Thus, making them aware about what all can be, implications of abuse, handling and handing over the tools to empower them, helping them being expressive in voicing their pain is the best way to break the cycle of cyclical abuse," said Dr Sukul.

Psychologists said that the parents of the victim also need to put in efforts to bring the child out of the horror she or he had faced. "Sometimes families can become insensitive, can end up questioning a lot or because of their own emotional experiences, may not recognize that the child needs extensive support," said Dr Chhibber. "The child may require a lot of reassurance, especially initially, and that is something that the families need to do. Making statements like it is all ?OK', everything is fine or saying that you know, nothing bad has happened, basically demeaning the child's experience or rejecting what they may have gone through would not be helpful," she added. (IANS)

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