Hurtful Words Can Leave Lifetime Scars.

• Position: Brief Article

The childhood maxim that sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you is wrong. In fact, hurtful words can haunt you all your life and may lead to heart disease, depression, suicide, or stress, or even the aggression witnessed in the Littleton, Colo., shootings, cautions W. Penn Handwerker, professor of anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs. The words that come from people with power over your life, such as teachers and parents or peers you admire, have the most impact, he says.

Accusatory statements--particularly those that start with "you"--are a factor that contribute to increasing rates of depression in the U.S. and often lead to serious health problems, especially for women. His research looked at the effects of childhood violence, including not only slapping or hitting, but demeaning or belittling, treating a person as inferior, blocking attempts to achieve, and attempting to make people feel bad about...