Sick from anger
Therapist warns that parents who beat children out of rage and stress risk illness
WWESTERN BUREAU: ESTERN JAMAICA BASED family therapist Dr Beverly Scott is sounding the warning that parents who beat their children out of anger and stress are putting themselves at risk for development of personal illnesses.
She made the observation in light of recent news that a woman from Bath, St Thomas, was caught on video last year mercilessly beating her adolescent daughter with a machete.
The woman, 44-year-old Doreen Dyer, was subsequently charged with cruelty to a child.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Scott said that many times, parents who beat their children are simply taking out their stress from other issues on the children.
“They (parents) beat the children because of psychological problems or because they don’t have jobs or family support, and they don’t have proper parenting skills. Because of all their circumstances, they are tired, and they take it out on the children,” said Scott.
“Parents can develop hypertension and other stress reactions because they can’t cope with the children who have now got out of hand. But I have had parents who, having learned positive parenting skills, would then come and say they went to the doctor afterward and there’s no sign of hypertension and their diabetes is gone because the stress is gone.”
Dr Max-Anne Bailey, assistant administrator at the Florida-based Ultimate Wellness Association and former medical doctor at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, gave a more detailed outline of the negative physical effects of stress on the body.
“Stress affects blood pressure and heart rate, thereby affecting the circulatory system. It can lead to chronic inflammation of organs, hair loss and skin changes, sleep disturbance and metabolic disturbance,” said Bailey.