It’s normal for parents to get upset with their children for misbehaving, but how they express their frustration can significantly impact their child’s brain development and long-term health.
Yelling has an impact on adult relationships as well and affects people both mentally and physically. In this post, we explore the psychological effects of yelling, how it impacts long-term mental health, and what you can do if you’ve been affected by verbal aggression.
How Does Yelling Affect a Child’s Brain?
Here’s how constant yelling can impact a child’s brain and mental health.
1. Yelling Lowers Self-Esteem
One of the negative effects of yelling is how children process feedback. Children who face regular verbal abuse process negative information more quickly and thoroughly than positive information. Studies reveal that children exposed to verbal aggression from controlling parents are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, and persistent sadness.
2. Yelling Hinders Brain Development
Yelling triggers changes in a child’s brain development. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of people who experienced parental abuse show that frequent exposure to yelling impacts brain structure and processing, especially areas linked to emotions, memory, and stress response. Fear-based discipline doesn’t just affect behavior but can also lead to long-term cognitive challenges.
3. Yelling Creates Lasting Fear Responses
When a harsh environment triggers our fear as children, physical reactions can cause traumatic stress. We may hear our parent’s voices even when they are not physically present, influencing how we react to anything that makes us feel threatened.
4. Yelling Increases the Risk of Stress and Depression
Studies also show that yelling triggers heightened neuroactivity in the amygdala. An overactive amygdala can increase stress, which plays a significant role in developing depression. As a result, exposure to frequent yelling in childhood can cause us to interpret ourselves and the world negatively. This explains why some adults who experienced verbal abuse as children struggle with long-term anxiety, emotional regulation, and trust issues.
Family counseling can be beneficial in these situations, whether you’re a parent or experiencing the effects of verbal aggression. Mental health professionals can help you improve communication, resolve behavioral issues, and strengthen the parent-child relationship.
Short-Term Effects of Yelling
Children are especially vulnerable, as their brains are still developing. Frequent yelling can lead to severe mental health issues and physical health problems.
1. Yelling Can Worsen Behavioral Issues
While a parent’s first thought might be that yelling will deter their child from misbehaving, it could create more issues. Yelling can make their child’s behavior even worse. This can create a cycle of yelling more and more as they attempt to correct the behavior.
Children frequently yelled at may believe their parent is attacking their personality rather than their behavioral issues. This can cause them to act out and continue doing things their parent disapproves of.
2. Yelling Can Lead to Depression
As mentioned above, while children may feel scared, upset or hurt when yelled at, verbal abuse can cause mental health issues that carry into adulthood. Many studies show a strong connection between emotional abuse and depression or long-term anxiety. These symptoms can worsen behavior and even cause self-destructive habits, like substance misuse or risk-taking behaviors.
Common psychological effects of yelling include:
- Anxiety
- Moodiness
- Shame
- Frequent crying
- Fear
- Guilt
- Withdrawal from the parent
- Confusion
- Powerlessness or hopelessness
3. Yelling Causes Physical Health Problems
Research shows that experiencing significant stress as a child can contribute to various physical health problems. Our experiences growing up shape us in many ways. We may not even realize how certain childhood situations affect us later in life.
Chronic stress in childhood can contribute to long-term problems for the heart and blood vessels. Consistent and ongoing stress increases the heart rate, elevating stress hormones and blood pressure levels, taking a toll on the body.
Children exposed to frequent stressful situations have been shown to have higher cortisol levels. When stress hormones remain elevated, they impact multiple bodily functions. This increases their risk of common childhood diseases like asthma, dermatitis and viral infections.
There is also a strong connection between adverse childhood experiences like verbal abuse and the development of chronic conditions. Stress causes our muscles to tense up, leading to migraines and tension in the shoulders, neck and upper and lower back. The long-term effects of yelling can include chronic pain and physical health conditions such as arthritis.
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Long-Term Effects of Yelling in Adult Relationships
Adults also suffer from the psychological impact of yelling in a relationship. These effects may not show immediately, but over time, they can lead to the deterioration of the relationship. Luckily, mental health professionals can help you work through these issues in couples counseling and improve your relationship.
The physical and mental effects of long-term yelling in a relationship include:
- Depression: The more you experience yelling in a relationship, the more helpless you feel. You want to fix the issues happening in your relationship but can’t seem to make it work. Helplessness can lead to depression, causing persistent sadness and feelings of worthlessness.
- Fear: The psychological impact of being yelled at in a relationship includes fear. You may fear upsetting your partner, leading to a loss of trust and an unhealthy relationship.
- Fractured communication: Yelling often stems from unresolved conflicts and poor communication. It’s essential to speak politely and leave the room when overcome with excess frustration and anger.
- Stress: The stress-related psychological effects of being yelled at by a spouse include high blood pressure, headaches and heart issues.
- Low self-esteem: Studies show verbal abuse causes self-esteem problems and harms mental health. You may start to believe your feelings and boundaries don’t matter to your partner and experience humiliation when yelled at.
- Anxiety: One of the negative effects of yelling is anxiety. Anxiety can result in an increased heart rate, hyperventilation or panic attacks due to being yelled at.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Repeated verbal aggression in relationships can lead to PTSD symptoms, including insomnia, hypervigilance, and self-destructive behaviors.
- Difficulty trusting authority figures: Children exposed to frequent yelling may develop distrust of authority figures, including teachers, supervisors, or mentors. This distrust stems from associating authority with fear, judgment, and hostility. As adults, they may feel disempowered in hierarchical relationships.
If You’ve Experienced These Effects, We Can Help
If you’ve experienced any of these negative effects of yelling, whether from controlling parents, a partner, or other relationships, it’s essential to seek help. Mental health professionals can help you work through the psychological impact of verbal aggression, emotional abuse, and behavior problems that stem from childhood or adult relationships.
With cognitive processing therapy and other modalities, therapists can help you get to the root of these issues or even work through them in family counseling or couples counseling.
At Taylor Counseling Group, our top priority is to provide high-quality, affordable mental health services. From the minute you enter our clinic, you’ll appreciate a warm environment to voice your concerns and highly trained counselors to help you work toward a happier, healthier future. Many of our counselors even specialize in trauma recovery for children, teens, and adults.
To begin your mental health journey, book an appointment today.
