Emotional Abuse

What do Desi Arnaz Jr., Angie Dickenson, Christina Crawford, Cindy Williams, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, and Suzanne Somers all have in common?. They're all famous, right? But another factor that binds these famous people together is the fact that they are all victims of emotional abuse.

People are more familiar with the other forms of abuse like physical abuse, rape, etc. But statistics show that emotional abuse is fast becoming a nightmarish situation especially for children. Fifteen percent of children across the US have reportedly been victims of emotional abuse or maltreatment. In a study done on 1,000 women, emotional abuse was seen to have suffered by the respondents in different stages of their lives. 36% suffered emotional abuse as they grew up. 43% during their adolescence. 39% in the last five years.

So what exactly is emotional abuse?. It is an abuse that has a direct negative effect on the psychological or mental balance of a person. The impact usually does not manifest itself right away and some people are not even aware they are suffering from such abuse but when one is subject to it over a period of time, the effects it leaves in the person can be damaging.

Emotional abuse can actually take different forms. The common types are rejection, isolation, corruption, terrorism, exploitation, and ignorance.

• Rejection is considered to be the most dangerous type of emotional abuse and that the most common effects are aggressive or violent behavior, and a decrease in logical reasoning and even in IQ. Rejection can take the form of constant criticism or belittling, name-calling, oral humiliation, lack of physical intimacy, yelling, and swearing at the victim.
• Isolation happens when the victim is restricted from interacting with others, from making friends, and leaving the victim alone, unnoticed, or unattended for long periods of time.
• Corruption is when one encourages the victim to take up actions that are unlawful or harmful to the victim's self. Examples would be allowing the victim to do drugs, to lie, or to steal, encouraging racism or other biases, and even encouraging abusive physical behavior.
• Terrorism is not only directly terrorizing or scaring the victim with threats but also allowing the victim to be a witness to other forms of abuse. Victims of this type of abuse automatically become victims of all the other types of emotional abuse.
• Exploitation happens when a victim is given responsibilities that are way beyond his capacities. An example would be encouraging the victim to participate in prostitution just to earn money.
• Lastly, ignorance happens when one is denied to participate in any decision-making process, or even denied access to one's basic rights like health care, dental care, or education.

Emotional abuse manifests itself when the victim becomes either withdrawn or too aggressive, has impulsive or destructive behavioral patterns, argumentative, cries easily, overly worrisome, easily frustrated, or too clingy.

The first step in overcoming emotional abuse is through acceptance of the fact that one is a victim. The next would be to break the abusive relationship. Then one needs to be surrounded with friends, family, or even professional counselors who are capable of listening, encouraging, empathizing, acknowledging, and reassuring. Healing takes the same road as it was inflicted - through words.

Read the Emotionally abused woman review.

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