Does anyone know of some severe forms of abuse that most stories involving child abuse don't touch upon?
Verbal abuse is often overlooked because it doesn't leave marks. I've also heard that making a home-schooled child fill out worksheets all day is considered abuse. Even an adult develops mental problems when locked in a small, dark room. I can't remember where I saw it, probably on ER, but there was a method of punishing a child for inappropriately touching themself that involved scorching the hand with a hot doorknob. Then there were the nutjobs who thought their child was the reincarnation of Christ, so they fed him nothing but lettuce to keep him "pure." Actually, look up the show xxxHolic: Kei. That one's a complicated issue, but hard to argue the point that it wasn't abuse.
If it helps the kid's in question have been raised by their grandmother since babyhood (she killed their parents) and they've never met another human being other than each over and their gran.
I know, and in thinking about that, all I can come up with is how the Dursleys tried to abuse the magic out of Harry.
Ah, then definately check out xxxHolic: Kei. I don't have episode numbers, but anything that has to do with the little girl.
How might kid's who've never been treated in any other way react? Also what could be a form of abuse that could trigger a fight or flight response?
If you're sensitive, maybe you shouldn't click on the Spoiler button. Spoiler Long ago, I read about a father who punished their child by putting a string around one of the child's teeth and the other end around a doorknob. Every time the child answered a question incorrectly, he slammed the door shut so a tooth was pulled out. I haven't checked for a source, but I also heard that a pedophile kept their adopted child malnourished by only feeding her peanut butter, because he liked children with thin bodies.
Probably would have to go on instinct or one of those forces where you can't tell if it comes from demonic possession or just internal wiring. One of the kids reaches their limit, turns her methods of control against her, even has "retard strength" and makes it so that they either no longer can stay their, or their grandmother dies. (Retard strength referring to a theory that most people are weaker than they could be because they're holding back. Think about that one drug that allows people to hurl cars because they're no longer concerned about protecting the muscles from damage. For a kid, they might not know yet how to moderate their force.) Of course, this is all assuming that there is no outside contact at all, nothing to suggest that what granny is doing isn't normal. If they have any sort of contact with the outside world, it could be the seed of knowing "this isn't right." Of course, if there is not contact with the outside world, you're going to end up with different problems. Anyone know about that one girl in the Ozarks that psychologists studied? She was raised by someone who had either had a stroke or alheimers or some other reason for not talking.
Would the kid's loyalty to each over help, as in they don't know how a parent is supossed to act but they can't imagine anything that results in their best friend being hurt as right? how might they get scant, rare contact with the real world?
I think it's time for a role-play session. Hit the dollar store for some toy dolls if it helps. Depending on how you grew up, plastic dinosaurs might work really well. Buy a pack of those cheap plastic heroes as well. See if the one getting slowly melted with a magnifying glass really suffers worse than the ones who are sitting and waiting for their turn.
Food abuse. Punishing a child by forcing him or her to eat something he or she hates, or punishing a child for not eating everything presented. There was an example of it in "Mommy Dearest," but it is quite a bit more common than you would think.
This one may be a long shot but making the children punish one-another would probably count. It's one thing if granny water boards you every time you say a bad word, it's another thing if she makes your sister do it and you do it to her. Perhaps Granny has a TV in her room. The kids have caught a glimpse once or twice.
Regarding your question of what would spark a fight: My anger and fight-back mode kicks in when I know that what's going on is wrong. However, if they've only known each other and Gran, they won't know that it's wrong. So the only thing that would trigger such a response is if she does something that they were trained against, i.e. if they think she's been taken over by a force they've been trained to fight against. What about forcing them to practice their magic for long hours at a time? It's like the parents who force their kid into something -- like ballet, violin, swim -- and the parent is the one who likes it, not the kid, but the parent forces their kid to do it and be super devoted to it.
I'm assuming this is a typo and you mean their love for each other? What if she had a rule where if one kid does something bad, the brother/sister gets punished instead of the one who did it? Like "Johnny depends on you so you better not screw up."
What and how many forms of abuse are there? Physical - psychological - deprivation. any of these or a mixture of all three. Let your imagination run free - I choose not to go there. Edit: A lot of years ago I read a book called The Long Lost Years of My Life, It was that long ago I cannot remember the author's name and it may be out of print, but if you can get hold of a copy, it is an eye opener. The story is about a woman whom married for money. She did not want any children - she had two, a boy and a girl. The father idolized the daughter and this caused the mother to resent her. The mother was good to the child when her husband was around but, spiteful when he was not - 'don't tell your daddy, or else' syndrome. Being that this is an edit I'll keep it short. The father died when the child was about five. The grandfather wanted to take her but the mother would not let him and stopped him from seeing the children. The mother managed to manipulate, over a period of time, to get her daughter put into special schools and various forms of mental institutions until eventually she finished up in a mental hospital, long term, where the staff spoke about her as if she wasn't there. She tried numerous time time kill herself. Finally a new doctor took over the running of the hospital and he could find no evidence of the serious mental health problem that she was being held for, with the help of his wife, they took her in and taught her to look after herself. They got in touch with her brother who came and helped her also. He said that whenever he asked his mother where his sister was, she refused to tell him. By the end of the book she was in a flat and with the support of her brother was on the way to recovery. This the only book that I have cried all the way through. So much so, that I could only read a couple of pages at a time, for my eyes would fill with tears making it impossible for me to read, I'd put the book down, pull myself together and start again.
You're angling for answers to all the most deep character-driven psychological things in your novels. Your characters are not going to ring true to anyone if all their reactions are cobbled together from a brainstorm on the internet. Characters evolve and grow from you writing them, and I'm sure if you took the effort to realise their world properly yourself instead of asking every time you didn't know what to do next, you'd be able to come up with ideas much more unique to yourself, and fully influenced by the story. You're pretty much asking people to come up with all your ideas for you here.
I'm with Melzaar. A real writer comes up with the answers, they don't ask for them. so why don't you think for yourself?
