Emotional abuse is as an ongoing pattern of behaviour intended to cause emotional harm, through manipulation, isolation or intimidation. Emotional abuse can occur in different types of relationships- including adult to child, peer to peer, or even in workplace relationships.
It can include anything from verbal abuse, constant criticism, intimidation or more subtle tactics, such as manipulation, or constant displeasure with you. It is an on-going process in which an individual diminishes and erodes the self-esteem of another.
Emotional abuse includes threats, insults, humiliation, intimidation, isolation or stalking. Some examples of emotional abuse are: Calling you names and putting you down. Yelling and screaming at you.
Emotional abuse includes non-physical behaviors that are meant to control, isolate, or frighten you. This may present in romantic relationships as threats, insults, constant monitoring, excessive jealousy, manipulation, humiliation, intimidation, dismissiveness, among others.
Verbal abuse is the most common form of emotional abuse, but it's often unrecognized, because it may be subtle and insidious. It may be said in a loving, quiet voice, or be indirect—or even concealed as a joke.
Narcissistic abuse is a type of emotional abuse where the abuser only cares about themselves and may use words and actions to manipulate their partner's behavior and emotional state. Effects of narcissistic abuse can vary depending on how long one can endure these types of relationships.
Emotional abuse can be a form of psychological trauma that can have a similar impact on the nervous system as physical trauma.
Symbolic aggression includes verbal or physical gestures aimed at terrorising, threatening, intimidating, dominating, making someone afraid or controlling them.
Intimidation tactics can be overt: threats to retaliate legally, economically or (in very rare cases) physically, against your leaders, members, or your whole group. Intimidation can take the form of legal action, but your opponents are far more likely to threaten legal action than to actually take you to court.
It is a form of intimidation. The yelling may work temporarily. However, the long term sustainability of the results from yelling is not good, because it is a way of bullying someone into getting them to do what the yeller wants done.
Terrorizing. Terrorizing involves intentionally frightening a child into submission. Perpetrators use threats of physical violence or other punishments and consequences to make the child behave.
Emotional abuse is linked to thinning of certain areas of the brain that help you manage emotions and be self-aware — especially the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe. Epigenetic changes and depression. Research from 2018 has connected childhood abuse to epigenetic brain changes that may cause depression.
Examples of narcissistic rage range from intense outbursts and sudden fits of anger, to passive-aggressive acts such as simmering resentment, icy silence, deliberate neglect, or cutting sarcasm.
Victims of narcissistic abuse have been reported to experience symptoms similar to PTSD, known informally as narcissistic abuse syndrome. Symptoms include intrusive, invasive, or unwanted thoughts, flashbacks, avoidance, feelings of loneliness, isolation, and feeling extremely alert.
Narcissists also gaslight or practice master manipulation, weakening and destabilizing their victims; finally, they utilize positive and negative emotions or moments to trick others. When a narcissist can't control you, they'll likely feel threatened, react with anger, and they might even start threatening you.
In public, abusers often appear charismatic, friendly, kind and even compassionate, while behind closed doors they are terrifying, unpredictable and calculating—think Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Most abusers work very hard to keep up a positive image outside of their home.
The cycle of abuse is a four-stage cycle used to describe the way abuse sometimes occurs in relationships. The stages—tension, incident, reconciliation, and calm—repeat themselves over and over again if the abuse follows this pattern.
After trauma though, this rationality might be overridden and your prefrontal cortex will have a hard time regulating fear and other emotions. So, these three parts of the brain- the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex- are the most-affected areas of the brain from emotional trauma.
Humiliation. An abuser may constantly humiliate someone else, alone or in front of other people, says Engel. They may laugh at the victim, call them names, make faces or roll their eyes when the victim talks. They may also criticize everything the victim does in a nonconstructive way, adds Dr.