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The Trauma of Neglect
and Dissociative Identity Disorder
People like you and I had highly traumatic childhoods. There was the apparent abuse that we can name and remember through flashbacks, and there is also the hidden abuse that few acknowledge; neglect.
This article will focus on neglect, its effects on adults, and ways to defeat it.
What is Neglect?
Neglect is a form of abuse that is perpetrated against a child. One form of neglect is withholding much-needed love and respect from a child, choosing instead to ignore the child’s needs.
The most harmful form of neglect, however, is when the child is being abused by one caregiver, and the other, knowing it is happening, does nothing. Children must have an adult to rely on for survival, so they idolize their neglectful parent simply because that caregiver is not overtly being abusive but ignoring what the other adult is doing.
Perhaps the cruelest twist is that the caregiver who is idolized does just as much long-term damage as does the overtly abusive parent. When working through childhood abuse later in life, the traumatic memories and emotions experienced by the overtly abusive parent are more apparent and available to access than those of the neglectful parent.
