A Cure for Physical Punishment
Physical punishment continues to be a serious issue throughout the world.
Posted June 3, 2026 | Reviewed by Hara Estroff Marano
Physical punishment (or “corporal punishment”) involves the use of physical force—spanking, hitting—to try to change or punish a child’s behavior. Just recently, a United States senator from Oklahoma commented on how he used his belt to punish his children; the same had been done to him by his parents.
The impact of physical punishment has been researched extensively, and the problems associated with it are remarkable. Joan Durrant, Elizabeth Gershoff, George Holden, Murray Straus, and Silvan Tomkins have been especially helpful in opening our eyes to the issues.
George Holden noted “…there is now a very large corpus of studies, numbering well over 1,500 empirical investigations, that have established that this behavior is linked to a variety of negative outcomes” (2020). In a comprehensive study, Straus et al (2014) summarized 15 harmful effects associated with physical punishment.
Worldwide and United States
Worldwide, the number of states (countries) prohibiting physical punishment of children in all settings (including in the home) is steadily increasing. The total currently is 70 countries. (End Corporal Punishment—World Health Organization, https// endcorporalpunishment.org/countdown/ ). Among such countries are Finland, Norway, Germany, Greece, Poland, Ireland, Nepal, Switzerland, Thailand, and Japan.
However, the United States and 127 other countries worldwide have not fully prohibited physical punishment of children. In addition, in the U.S., 16 states still allow physical punishment in schools. The states tend to be in the south and south west (e.g., Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas).
A Potential Cureperpetrated
Often, when attempting to cure illness or problems, it is useful to return to early developmental structures and processes. This is the case with physical punishment. Three early human systems provide much help: Feelings (affects), cognition , and language.
Feelings , such as fear , anger , and joy, function as reactions to internal and external stimuli.
Cognition includes thinking, learning, self-reflection, and reality processing.
Language involves putting words and symbols to perceptions, ideas, and feelings, allowing for further communication with oneself and others.
All three of these systems are important and provide a cure to physical punishment. They are also easy to use.
Feelings, Cognition, and Language
The first is feelings. Is the child distressed, angry or experiencing some combination of feelings that leads to being out of control? And is the parent, caregiver , or teacher, distressed or angry?
The second is cognition. For instance, can the child and caregiver think about what is happening and why, self-reflect a little bit, recall what may have happened in similar circumstances?
The third is language —perhaps the most important in pulling together the whole system. Can the caregiver and/or child put words to their feelings and actions, thus not have to use pain and fear—physical punishment.
The importance and success of using feelings and words to prevent physical punishment has been increasingly visible throughout early school years. One frequently sees pictures of facial expressions and words for feelings in kindergarten and early grades of schools.
It Works…And It’s Not That Hard!
One of the most important examples of deploying this process was Anny Katan, M.D., a child psychoanalyst who came to Cleveland from Europe in 1946 following World War II. She ultimately helped establish the Hanna Perkins School in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
In her work with troubled children, Katan realized that the actions of the children were triggered by feelings (as Darwin showed), and that the children had no words for the feelings, making it very difficult for them to understand themselves, their feelings, and actions. They could not verbalize their feelings—and therefore they just acted. The inabiliy to label feelings has been termed alexithymia—difficulty identifying, describing, and processing one’s emotions.
Putting words to feelings—verbalization—is at the core of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis . Katan worked with the children and found dramatic positive results when she focused on the connection between action and words—putting actions into words.
But then she went a step further. She realized that the parents were also often unable to put words into feelings: “These feelings are not usually given names. Often they are not understood by the parents…the task of the parents is much more difficult. They have to guess at the child’s feelings” (p. 185). Working with children and parents to put words to feelings—verbalization—proved to be extremely effective.
However…what words? What feelings? In dealing with physical punishment, the most important words and feelings involve putting words to anger , distress , fear , and shame .
In the midst of a fracas, understanding and labeling such feelings with words will create an opportunity to avoid physical punishment. This is literally a cure for physical punishment.
Go ahead and try it—and please let me know how it turns out.
Holden GW (2020). Why do parents hit their children? From cultural to unconscious determinates. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 73: 10-29.
Holinger, PC (2025). Affects, cognition, and language as foundations of human development . Routledge: London and New York.
Katan A (1961). Some thoughts about the role of verbalization in early childhood. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 16: 184-188.
Straus MA et al (2014). The Primordial Violence: Spanking children, psychological development, violence, and crime . Routledge: London and New York.
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Paul C. Holinger, M.D., M.P.H. , a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, is a professor of psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center and author of What Babies Say Before They Can Talk .
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.