Recovering from Emotional Abuse
4 Signs of Emotional Abuse
- Isolation and Humiliation. An emotional abuser wants to
make his or her partner feel bad constantly. In order to
keep the victim down, the abuser looks for ways to keep the
victim for getting support. The abuser usually has a number
of reasons why the victim shouldn’t spend time with family
or friends.
- The Blame Game. If you ask an abuser, he will never say
that anything is his fault. Abusers blame the victims for
“making them do it.” They also have a lot of other excuses
for why the behave unacceptably. From a bad childhood to a
bad day, the blame always belongs on something or someone
else.
- Intimidation. Abusers use threats to get their partners to
do what they want. Emotional abusers don’t usually resort to
physical violence, but they are not above threatening
physical violence to get their way. Many will threaten their
partners, children, and family. Some even promise to kill
themselves if the victim tries to get out of the
relationship. In this way they use fear, guilt, and shame to
intimidate victims and make them feel like there is not
escape.
- Domination. Abusers have to feel like they are in charge
all of the time. To achieve this, they treat their victims
as possessions. To the abuser the victim does not have any
value aside from their ability to do what the abuser’s
bidding.
The thing that makes emotional abuse difficult to deal with
is that it doesn’t carry the same weight as physical abuse
in the eyes of most people. Sometimes even the victim’s
don’t realize the extent of the damage caused by years with
an abusive partner. The fact is that not every abuser hits,
and not all scars are visible to the eye. But the trauma and
pain caused be emotional abuse is very real and it can take
years to move toward help and recovery.
Emotional abusers are able to gain control by making others
feel like they have no self-worth. Many victims feel that
they have no other options and that they only choice they
have is to stay with the abusive partner. These circumstance
make it difficult for the abused partner to escape the
relationship and leave their partner.
Name-calling, shaming, yelling, and instilling fear are all
ways that abusers can control the actions of their partners.
To them control is sought through any means necessary.
It is unfortunate that society tends to view emotional abuse
as less severe than domestic violence and physical abuse.
However, emotional abuse is every bit as damaging,
emotionally and psychologically speaking. In order to break
free from the cycle of emotional abuse, victims must admit
that emotional abuse is happening, that it is unacceptable,
and that it is important to gain a sense of empowerment.
There are several ways for victims to regain their sense of
self-worth and move toward feelings of empowerment and away
from feelings of helplessness. Some victims buy self defense
videos and begin Martial Arts Training at home to build their
confidence. Others find a new hobby, join a book club, or do
things they feel they were not entitled to do when they were
being abused.
About the Author:
For more information about self defense videos and Martial
Arts Training, please visit http://closecombattraining.com/
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