Graduation Semester and Year
2019
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Social Work
Department
Social Work
First Advisor
Regina Praetorius
Abstract
Child abuse is defined as any emotional, psychological or physical abuse or neglect inflicted on a child, that causes distress and impaired functioning for that child. A child’s caregiver was reported to be the main source of child abuse, with increasing chances if the parent struggles with a mental health disorder and or co-morbid substance use disorder or physical issues. The mental health issues that have been noted as a significant source of abuse include a parent who struggles with a personality disorder including borderline personality disorder (BPD) and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). These personality disorders stem from years of negative childhood beliefs and feedback with an underlying character trait of emotional dysregulation (ED). Research has noted that individuals experiencing abuse from a parent with NPD or BPD struggled to not only seek help, but were unable to complete their recommended treatment intervention due to many obstacles. Two of the main obstacles reported from adult survivors who did reach for help was losing their family members because they sought assistance and the individual not knowing that what he/she experienced as a child was considered abuse.
Keywords
Borderline personality disorder (BPD), Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), Help seekers, Non-help seekers, Cycle of abuse
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Work
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Tepper, Miriam, "I May be Slightly Broken: Experiences of Children of Parents with Personality Disorders" (2019). Social Work Theses. 200.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/socialwork_theses/200
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington