Spanking children leads to adult mental illness...

[Mistah K88]

So I was reading an article similar to this one:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/spankin...ry?id=16695697

and it got me to thinking.


I could say "hell I'm fine"...as I got my butt whooped a lot...Man I was whooped. However, my experience probably is different from many people. So how does everyone feel about this? I'm watching my two older sisters raise thier children, we all were raised with the same parents and all got spanked when we got out of line (I probably got it harder because I was the boy). One of them doesn't believe in spanking her children, while the other one does believe in spanking her child.

So do you feel that spanking causes mental illness later in life? Were you spanked as a child? What are your thoughts on the matter?

Also, if you did get a whoopin' as a youngin'...are you currently....crazy?

[Johnny P. Sartre]

I believe a misabuse of either side can be detrimental to a child's health and mental stability. Like almost anything in life, you need that equilibrium.

This is easier said than done and a crying kid can make you lose it but you gotta put things in perspective realize this is a human being who isn't experienced yet and needs a guidance in life.

To answer your question, yeah I was whooped and spanked as a child but I won't put that on my child. At the same time I won't shy away from a tap or two in an extreme situation but after that being able to tell my kid why I did it.

[Arvandor]

It's all about how and why.

If used to teach right from wrong, and the parent is careful to explain exactly why they are being smacked, and if the smacking is not excessive, then it's should be okay.

But using your kid as a punching bag to take out your day's stress on - that is wrong and will lead to a screwed up kid.


That said, I did get beaten a lot, and now I am an absolute emotional cripple.

[Kid Kamikaze10]

I got my lumps as well, and it did a ton of damage, IMO.

I still hold a grudge on my parents for it and the verbal abuse. They try to rationalize and justify it, and that works with my brothers, but I'm not convinced.

[Diamond Princess]

I still hold a grudge on my parents for it and the verbal abuse. They try to rationalize and justify it, and that works with my brothers, but I'm not convinced.

Same here, and it also did a number on my head in terms of intimacy.

Not close with my parents at all - especially my mother, who wishes I would just 'get over it.' At least my dad will say that he was way too hard on me (he was abusive, plain and simple). I can forgive him for that. But my mother's constant excuse-making and minimizing? Never.

And I wish people would stop saying "spank" and "smack" and "whoop" and other little cutesy names. You hit your child. Cop to it.

[thwhtGuardian]

I read that article and the one question in my mind was that I'd like to see the actual data they collected. They use a lot of really broad terms concerning mental health and track it back to a pretty narrow cause; spankings during childhood, and that just seems kind of fishy to me.

[Mistah K88]

I forgot to give my input. Having parents who were born in the 1940's, they were very old school, so I had a fair share of whoopin's as a kid. I don't feel that they "abused" me.

Do I have issues? Yeah. Who doesn't? (I think mine come from the horrors of the public school system rather than spanking). Also, everything is blamed on something..TV, videogames, rock and roll music, rap music, what doesn't cause mental illness these days? Pinpointing the people's mental illnesses on getting a spanking (or hit) as a child without taking note of many socioeconomic factors does make things a bit off.


However one thing's for sure...


This would have NEVER happened in my childhood.

[o1pickleboy]

I read that article and the one question in my mind was that I'd like to see the actual data they collected. They use a lot of really broad terms concerning mental health and track it back to a pretty narrow cause; spankings during childhood, and that just seems kind of fishy to me.

Given how common it used to be if it leads to mental illness they must be millions suffering currently and millions who suffered illness that have past on now.

I was spanked I believe in it but don't practice it. Discinple has to be common from both parents and ex believes in timeouts. So she gets timeouts(which hardly work)

Just to add in my college psy teacher didn't believe in spanking but said as long as its not done in anger and it was used purely for discinple then it was fine.

[the4thpip]

My brother and I were raised without any kind of physical punishment, and I think we both turned out ok.

[The Once And Forever]

I was punished physically by both parents.

Pretty sure I have clinical depression(otherwise the suicidal thoughts are random), and given that both parents have expressed mental instability (My dad has gone as far as to ENDORSE those feelings, while mom just semi-shamefully takes anti-depressents), I won't say that it didn't play a part.

I think the lying, abuse from brothers, and bullying in school did more damage, but what do I know?

[ChadH]

I believe that some children are influenced by physical abuse, but the thing to remeber here is that not all children are the same. Some children grow into reasonably well adjusted adults after suffering abusive childhoods, others have personality disorders despite being raised by gentle parents. I don't think it's possible to lump all children together as blank slates just waiting to be molded by any experience that happens to them. It's the old nature vs nurture debate. Somr people are born with an amazing resiliency against negative influence.

[The Black Guardian]

I come from a long line of people who "spared the rod." Even my great-grandparents, who raised 5 kids during the depression, did not believe in spankings. None of us ever "needed" it. We all tended to be good kids, even if a couple of us weren't always good adults. She may not have ever struck me, but my mom was heavy with the punishments. She once locked me in the back yard in only my underwear for forgetting to do my homework. Another time, for bad grades, she made me pack everything but my clothes and bed into boxes and into the car. For several days, everything was gone, but she brought it back with a warning that next time it goes to the Goodwill.

Unfortunately, we do seem to have mental illness. A few of us are phobic, OCD, or suffer anxiety, and my uncle is schizophrenic (but that's likely from the PCP).

My opinion is that children can either be reached without spanking or they're beyond being reached.

Edit: And my grandfather and stepfather used to getoff on breaking the bones of their spouses. That's a whole lotta need for therapy that was never resolved. But neither ever raised a hand to their kids.

[davidn15]

I forgot to give my input. Having parents who were born in the 1940's, they were very old school, so I had a fair share of whoopin's as a kid. I don't feel that they "abused" me.

Do I have issues? Yeah. Who doesn't? (I think mine come from the horrors of the public school system rather than spanking). Also, everything is blamed on something..TV, videogames, rock and roll music, rap music, what doesn't cause mental illness these days? Pinpointing the people's mental illnesses on getting a spanking (or hit) as a child without taking note of many socioeconomic factors does make things a bit off.


However one thing's for sure...


This would have NEVER happened in my childhood.

If I did what that kid did I'd be on the street...or dead...

I got hit all the time as a kid. With anything in sight. Heck my mom would keep a few sticks in the house just for that purpose. Sometimes I was hit so hard that whatever hit me broke. I turned out okay. I'm not terribly close with my mom and I'm glad the giant turd that was my father is out of my life, but I'm a fully functioning adult so I'd say it all went well.

[Monty_Cristo]

my dad used a leather belt (he still has the engraved buckle);across the back. or his fraternity paddle (across the rear). it definately wasn't a "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you situation." more like hitting someone who can't fight back is a needed release after work. my brother and i pretty much just saw physical violence as the most natural outcome of messing up. i mellowed out a lot in my teen years. but i had my cutting phase and anorexia. my brother still has a hair trigger and reacts almost exclusively with physical violence (or the threat of) to any kind of disagreement. i'm not going to blame all of that on corporal punishment. bad tempers and mood disorders run in the family.

[Mistah K88]

I just remembered, my older sister who does believe in spanking was a police officer years back. She would get calls from people with unruly children. One example was there was this little girl who wouldn't get from under the table no matter what her mom said or did. So the last resort, calling the cops to parent for her. I suppose things like this has hardened her. There was another call that she got every morning to get some little boy out of bed everyday for school since he wouldn't do so for his parents.