Sticks, Stones and words can hurt you

A major new study published in a British medical journal has found that verbal abuse in childhood can leave mental health scars as deep and long-lasting as those caused by physical abuse Researchers pooled data from seven relevant studies, involving over 20,000 adults from England and Wales While childhood physical abuse has halved in recent decades, reports of verbal abuse are on the rise the study found that roughly 20% of those born after 1969 reported childhood verbal abuse, compared to under 12% of those born before 1950. Professor Kirsty Ross, from the School of Psychology at Massey University chats to Jesse.