I have to disagree with that. I speak as a recipient of such treatment. I won't say "victim" because even though it has stayed with me during my adult years, I was able to move on and make a life for myself in spite of it.

I won't say it was easy getting to where I am now. After years and years of being yelled at, never doing anything right, not getting high enough grades in school (You know. I'd get a 95 on a test, but why wasn't it 100? That kind of thing.) and all kinds of criticism, and physical abuse (that's not what it was called then), I was so shy, I couldn't stand up for myself. I was always too afraid to fight back. I flunked out of college and was sure my life was over. I had few friends because I wasn't comfortable with other people.

Imagine your mother trying to commit suicide while telling you it's because of you. It's all your fault. It's extremely hard to forget things like that even after 45 years.

I suppose I was fortunate to become friends with someone who was able to see beyond that. I learned a lot from her, and I was able to get on the right path. I've never used the abuse as an excuse for anything. I accept responsibility for my own actions and behavior, but somewhere, in the back of my mind, it's always there.

 Verbal abuse (shouting, taunting, teasing, insulting - anything negative in fact) has immense repercussions on children during their childhood and on, all through their lives. I speak from experience of a loud, bullying mother. Every hurtful thing your parent says to you sticks in like a knife. I am 53 and have been having therapy and counselling on and off for 14 years now and I still have struggle with low self-esteem, difficulty with relationships and eating problems. What a parent tells you is the way you see yourself - you are hard-wired to believe what they tell you, even if it doesn't make sense, because as a child you have to trust them, they are the ones who will keep you alive (you hope). A parent calls you 'stupid', ugly, pathetic, mad, weird, weedy, a liar, a whore, that sticks in your mind, and if they say it more than once it';s like having it confirmed. Unfortunately, my own kids had a bullying father in their early years, and I have spent many subsequent years with the fallout of that, and it has been really awful at times. The notion that children are tough and 'bounce back' with a few hugs and a lot of love is totally false.

 Speaking from experience of a silly, tactless and insensitive mother I can say that childhood put downs, attitudes etc from others can certainly scar for a long time. At 50 I am only just starting to develop some self esteem and sense of worth because of this kind of thing.

 AGAINST DEFINATETLY.Children look up to there parents as a source of unconditional love.Loving them no matter what they do wrong or may have failed at.Children count on there parents to bring them up when they are feeling down,to love them where it SEEMS nobody else in the world does.verbal abuse to a child will harm their character will lead to feelings of being worthless,a child who feels they cannot please or gain the love and respect from there parents could sink into depression act out, and possibly will have relationships issues in their future, and be more likely to pick a spouse who abuses them physically and emotionally and verbally, and could lead them too emotionally abusing there children as well.Abusing children most likely is a learned behavior from there parents. I know from my own encounters that the pain does not go away and that feeling of not being loved or or never being good enough does not go away. Verbal and mentalabuse sticks with a child forever!!!!!!!!!

 I've seen the damage done to my roommate's self-esteem. Her mom died when she was 11 and her father sent her to boarding school across the country. She stayed there thru high school graduation but came home on holidays. Her father constantly put her down by calling her fat pig and moron, really mean hurtful things. It almost seems like it brainwashed her. She heard it so much and had no mother to tell her she was beautiful and smart. She's now 28 yrs. Old and hates herself. Depressed a lot and self destructive behavior. Even talks of dying to make everything better. She is now involved in a harmful relationship with a over controlling, manipulating and emotionally abusive punk. He's currently in jail for several illegal activities and she's waiting for him. He loves her and she says straight up that no one else would want her anyway. Of course he hates me since I'm the enemy constantly pointing out the truth to her whenever it's needed. I was lucky to have good, positive role models for parents. Mine always instilled pride of self and praised us when we did well. Worst I ever got called was 'lazy" and at the time I was being lazy. Although the abusive relationship I fell into was after I became an adult, it's been over 20 years since I escaped it, I still shudder at some memories or find myself still afraid to connect with strangers in a social gathering. When your spirit is beaten down, whether physical abuse or verbal and emotional abuse, we build a protective shell around us that may still remain later, even if we don't need it anymore.

 Abuse of any kind has a tremendous impact on ones life. Some people get over it, some don't. It leaves scars that are sometimes never heal.

 I'm glad no one if for that. I'm so against it. I know what its like to be abused physically and emotionally. I saw it in my family. Its a terrible thing and can ruin a child's life forever. =(

 Abuse whether verbal or any other kind, if continued for a long period of time(take any period u think long) can result in disaster for kids. They might overcome that abuse if it lasts for a very short period of time(take any period u think VERY short).

 You have got to be joking?
Of course it does. If I called one of my girls a name all the time she will grow up and think she is that. Say for instance ugly, or stupid. Sorry I don't agree with what you have stated. I do not believe in calling children or adults stupid or any of those types of names.

 I think Zwanger is right. There was a tremendous reaction after WWII. It seems that teasing and humiliating their children as a "joke" was common amongst otherwise loving parents in the fifties by people who had undergone the war as adults. I have come across it an awful lot, and suffered it myself. Quite why this was, I do not know. The next generation of parents who had grown up as children during the war seem to have reacted by wanting to give their children everything they had not had because their childhood had been so disturbed by the war. As a result, family life became much more child centred during the 60's.

While not having the dramatically drastic effects on a person that physical and sexual abuse does, petty humiliations, hypercriticism and verbal abuse can result in chronic anxiety, depression and lack of confidence which has no basis in reality, such as a really clever person thinking they are stupid.

Karmabum is right too about the immense guilt a person can feel when trying to break free from a belittled self-image derived from parental abuse. Undeserved guilt is the giant to be slain here.

 Another survivor chiming in here. I am finally overcoming the negative self image I received from abuse. The verbal is what really sticks. Thank you all for making this a winning debate!

 Verbal abuse can leave scars that can never heal. As while they don't harm the physical body, they can never be removed from the mind.

 In my case I was raised with an abusive, bullying older sister, by an emotionally remote and disconnected mother. Now, in my 5th decade, not a day goes by that I don't struggle with the aftershocks of my childhood. The sense of self-worth is fundamentally damaged and needs ongoing attention and repair. This job of self-nurturing takes mega-quantities of energy and time that are then not available to the "normal" goals of education, career, relationships.

 It has a major effect on kids. It can scar them for life, they may even come out socially retarded. I've got a lot of put-downs as a child from my father, and I really didn't need that at my age, for I was ALREADY having a terrible time with my grandparents who took care of me a lot died. It really took me 10 steps backwards in life. Oh course I'm over it now, but some people out there take it with them their entire lives!

 I speak from experience when I say it does have a negative impact on adults trying to outgrow their childhood abuse. I have learned to move on, however the past has a way of creeping back in when you least expect it.

 Of course it has a negative effect on kids.

 Robbier44, yours is a good response to the debate statement. Wonderful that you have found ways to move on in your life. Yes, physical and sexual and emotional and verbal abuse are damaging through the live on one who experienced it. I know from experience about the sexual assault (not a kind word "incest" because it was assault and rape" at age 10 by a old uncle. God bless you now and always.