[The beaten child: psychological aspects]

Well beyond its effects on the body, physical abuse spoils a child's future by jeopardizing its living "tools" to become a woman, a man, a parent. Several clinical vignettes will illustrate the various psychosocial damages of physical abuse as well as the coping strategies the child will use to outlive these threatening situations. We will then thouroughly explore the process that underlies these situations of abuse and stress the importance of the dynamics the abusive family is engaged in. The identification of risk factors completes the global assessment of these critical situations. Taking charge of these problems requires to address the difficult question of the child protection as well as the emotional burden the helping staff is facing. This stresses the need for specialized teams and therapeutical networks to handle these difficult situations. The hospitalization of the child, when not medically justified, may not be useful but its negative effects must not be underestimated. We will end this paper with some comments about the future of these children, which is not necessarily as dark as some might forecast.