 Hey, Psych2Goers, welcome back to another video. First of all, we would like to thank you for all the support you've given us. Psych2Go's mission is to help everyone learn about psychology and mental health in a digestible manner. Now back to the video. Do you have difficulty identifying how you feel? Have you been prioritizing everyone else's needs before your own? Some of these negative behaviors may have been developed from your childhood experiences, particularly from emotional childhood neglect. Children have emotional needs, just as important as other necessities like food and clothing. When a parent neglects these needs, their children may develop certain negative behaviors that follow them into adulthood. So, to help you better understand your emotional health and development, we've made this video to look at 8 signs of emotional childhood neglect. Before we begin, we would like to mention that this video is created for educational purposes only and is not intended to substitute a professional diagnosis. If you are struggling with emotional childhood neglect or any mental health condition, we highly advise you to seek help from a qualified mental health professional. If you suspect you or someone you know is a victim of abuse, please contact the Childhood Abuse Hotline. The link will be in the description below. Please note that everyone is affected differently. Some people may relate to all, some, or different signs than what's on this list. 1. You Bottle Your Emotions Did you learn to keep your emotions hidden in fear that it will lead to conflict? One of the biggest signs of emotional neglect is the inability to identify, manage, and express your emotions. Depending on your situation, you may not have been allowed to express how you feel or have been reprimanded or invalidated for feeling a certain way. This can be problematic later in life as keeping important emotions bottled up may take a toll on your mental health. 2. You Put Others First Do you feel that your needs always come second to others? Maybe it seems as if you always have to make sure everyone else is happy, even if it means you have to settle for less. If you grew up learning that your feelings are invalid, it's easy to start neglecting yourself. This habit to please others at your own expense can over time become very harmful to your mental well-being. 3. You Struggle To Identify Your Emotions Do you find it difficult to respond when someone asks you how you feel? If you grew up in a household when your feelings were neglected by your family, you may have been reinforced to avoid thinking about how you feel or believe that your feelings aren't important. This can affect your decision-making ability since not knowing how you feel about certain ideas and situations can make it much harder to navigate through them. 4. You Feel Broken Do you feel like you lack importance or that your emotions are out of control? Emotions are important because they help guide you to make decisions, formulate opinions, and influence how you interact with others. When you're cut off from your emotions, it's easy to feel that there's something inherently wrong with you. When you don't have your feelings validated and when you don't learn the necessary skills to identify, manage, and express your emotions, it's easy to feel alienated from everyone else. 5. Your Heart On Yourself Do you often get caught up in the little details and prioritize perfection? You may fear rejection far more than what it's worth, and part of it may be due to your childhood experiences. It's possible to not know the correct way to handle failure and imperfection simply because you haven't been offered a healthy way to learn those skills. 6. You Fear Dependency Do you find it difficult to ask for help when you really need it? If your emotional needs have been neglected, you may feel that asking for help is a source of conflict. In the past, you may have been scolded for asking for help, and so you find it difficult in the present to do so. It may seem easier to simply do it yourself, however, this fear of dependency may take away your ability to collaborate with others. 7. You Lack Self-Esteem Do you always compare yourself to others? Having your emotional needs neglected may lead to serious consequences regarding how you perceive yourself. You may have grown up in situations where you're constantly pitted up against others. This may result in a tendency to see everyone else as competition, which may lead to feelings of isolation as well as low self-esteem. In any case, if your feelings have been neglected, it can be difficult to know your worth. 8. You're Empty On The Inside Can you identify or manage how you feel? Being able to regulate your emotions is a highly important learned skill. It's easy to feel helpless if you've been in situations where you weren't allowed to develop these skills. You may not be sure how to manage your emotions or what to feel and when. These are troubling feelings that can make everyday functioning difficult. Emotional neglect in childhood can make it difficult to regulate and express our emotions later on. Fortunately, there's always help available. If you are a child or know of one experiencing any kind of neglect, know that your feelings and struggles are valid and that resources are available. The Child Help National Child Abuse Hotline is a great resource to reach out to and we've added the link to it in the description below. If you find this video insightful, like and share this with others who may find it useful too. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell icon to get notified whenever Psych2Go posts a new video. All the references used are also added in the description box below. Thank you for watching and we'll see you in our next video.