Psychological abuse is much more of a concern. It is malignant, has long-term consequences and is often completely invisible for the outside world.
If a parent is belittling their child, no teacher, doctor, close friend or relative would see anything wrong with the child. Many parents are belittling their children, killing their self-esteem. Later, these children become bullied in school, and face social withdrawal. They can also have education and professional development issues owing to their partial isolation. They will always feel guilty and pity and are likely to fail in their career path, even though they are mentally fit for success.
I am a case of such a child. My parents always wanted to keep their in-house authority only for themselves. They were always right, and never cared about my opinions and my feelings.
I mostly recovered from that, but coping with this experience is a very hard and long-running battle within oneself. Survivors of bad parenting styles such as authoritarian and so-called helicopter parenting need to undergo psychiatrist treatments. They will struggle much more than children of similar capabilities who were respected by their parents. And these foul parents will never see their guilt, and will never regret.
Thank you for sharing with such passion and insight! I really appreciate it! Many of us are still undoing the damage, it can take a lifetime.