Verbal abuse is the harmful use of language to control, intimidate or hurt someone. It can include behaviour such as name-calling, belittling, or using controlling or threatening language.
Name-calling
Excessively using insults or calling someone names is an example of abusive behavior. If you've asked someone to stop calling you a name and they've ignored your request, they're being verbally abusive.
Signs of Verbal Abuse
Verbal abuse involves using words to name call, bully, demean, frighten, intimidate, or control another person. This can include overt verbal abuse such as yelling, screaming, or swearing. Such behaviors are attempts to gain power, and the goal is to control and intimidate you into submission.
Emotional abuse includes: humiliating or constantly criticising a child. threatening, shouting at a child or calling them names. making the child the subject of jokes, or using sarcasm to hurt a child.
Examples include intimidation, coercion, ridiculing, harassment, treating an adult like a child, isolating an adult from family, friends, or regular activity, use of silence to control behavior, and yelling or swearing which results in mental distress.
What Is Verbal Abuse? Verbal abuse, also known as emotional abuse, is a range of words or behaviors used to manipulate, intimidate, and maintain power and control over someone. These include insults, humiliation and ridicule, the silent treatment, and attempts to scare, isolate, and control.
Verbal abuse is the most common form of emotional abuse. Things may be said in a loving, quiet voice, or be indirect—even concealed as a joke. Confronting an abuser often takes the support and validation of a group, therapist, or counselor.
You may experience feelings of confusion, anxiety, shame, guilt, frequent crying, over-compliance, powerlessness, and more. You may stay in the relationship and try to bargain with the abuser or try to change the abuser's behavior, often placing blame on yourself, even though you are not at fault.
She was a victim of verbal abuse.
The psychological effects of verbal abuse include: fear and anxiety, depression, stress and PTSD, intrusive memories, memory gap disorders, sleep or eating problems, hyper-vigilance and exaggerated startle responses, irritability, anger issues, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, self-harm, and assaultive behaviors.
Examples of verbal behaviours that challenge include: • Shouting • Arguing • Screaming • Abuse, including use of offensive language • Threatening • Use of inappropriate terms, such as those that are sexist or racist • Name-calling.
A few common forms of verbal abuse include withholding, countering, and discounting. Emotional abuse, on the other hand, utilizes hurtful tactics that are rooted in one's emotions to manipulate and mistreat the victim. A few common forms of emotional abuse include criticism, humiliation, and control.
Sign of Verbal Abuse #3: Telling You to Shut-Up
Berit Brogaard, D.M. Sci., Ph. D. writes in Psychology Today, “15 Signs of Verbal Abuse,” a sign of verbal abuse called “abusive anger.” This is when your partner screams and yells at you, or tells you to “shut-up.” Being told to shut up is not just rude behavior.
Mental abuse is gaslighting, silence, manipulation, and victimization. Verbal abuse is screaming, bullying, name calling, berating, and blaming. Sexual abuse is jealous rages, coercion, sexual withdraw, rape, and degrading acts.
What are the effects of emotional or verbal abuse? Staying in an emotionally or verbally abusive relationship can have long-lasting effects on your physical and mental health, including leading to chronic pain, depression, or anxiety.
Emotional abuse can be a form of psychological trauma that can have a similar impact on the nervous system as physical trauma.