Violence against children in Brazil and child suffering

A psychological outlook

Abstract

Violence against children is a subject of wide-ranging discussion, which has been gradually taking up more space over the years both in academia and in the media. This qualitative study deals with a literature review of some of the most recurrent forms of violence experienced in childhood: sexual exploitation and abuse, psychological violence, neglect and physical violence. In continuity, we present some possible causes of violence against children, and in conclusion, we point out the consequences of the abuse endured while in childhood. These situations of family violence perpetrated during childhood create afflictions in children and are the origin of childhood and teenage psychopathologies which often remain throughout adult life. Children become psychically ill due to the violence they suffer or witness within the family, seeing as what should be their safe space becomes the captivity in which they must live with the tormentors whom they support, since they are children.