What is emotional neglect? How does it affect children and the adults they become? What can we do to help? In The Simple Guide to Emotional Neglect, Betsy de Thierry provides clarity and guidance on the complex subject of emotional neglect, including how it impacts emotional connection and behaviour in the children who experience it. Betsy de Thierry has spent years working with children and adults impacted by emotional neglect from all walks of life, and combines her experience with the latest research evidence to provide you with a concise overview of what emotional neglect looks like, and the issues it can create, including its impact on the developing brain, the development of trauma-based behaviours and challenges to forming emotional connections. The practical advice in this book guides parents, carers, and professionals involved in child welfare on how to provide informed and empathic support.
Betsy de Thierry is a trained psychotherapist and a qualified primary school teacher who has founded several charities that work directly with troubled families.
This book does exactly what it claims to - it gives a brief, yet extensive, overview of the effects of emotional neglect in childhood. It's a quick read with lots of information. It seems mostly aimed at adult caregivers of children, since it gives advice on avoiding and reversing the effects of emotional neglect.
I've given the book 4 stars only because it could use a heavy edit. Run-on sentences abound, making it difficult to read. There were also more than a few incomplete sentences. It almost felt like reading an unedited, self-published book.
Such an incredible blessing to have a book that introduces such a huge and difficult topic so simply. Thought provoking for me and challenging. A must read for anyone, because I can’t see how this doesn’t affect everyone in some capacity, either their past, a friend, or even the pursuit of being a better parent.