Studies show emotional abuse may be the most damaging form of maltreatment causing adverse developmental consequences equivalent to, or more severe than, those of other forms of abuse (Hart et al. 1996).
Although emotional abuse may not lead to physical injury, studies have found that emotional abuse can be as mentally and psychologically damaging as physical abuse when it comes to mental and behavioral health.
Emotional and psychological abuse can have severe short- and long-term effects. This type of abuse can affect both your physical and your mental health. You may experience feelings of confusion, anxiety, shame, guilt, frequent crying, over-compliance, powerlessness, and more.
Chronic abuse can lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially in victims who experienced other traumas. The result of narcissistic abuse can also include a pervasive sense of shame, overwhelming feelings of helplessness, and emotional flashbacks.
Emotional abuse of child or young person can increase the risk of: mental health problems, including depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. eating disorders. self-harm.
Emotional or psychological abuse
Emotional abuse often coexists with other forms of abuse, and it is the most difficult to identify. Many of its potential consequences, such as learning and speech problems and delays in physical development, can also occur in children who are not being emotionally abused.
We tend to react to physical pain much more proactively than we do to emotional pain. Yet, short of catastrophic injuries or illnesses, emotional pain often impacts our lives far more than physical pain does.
Being beaten down by verbal abuse is extremely traumatic. The trauma of abuse carries over into new relationships, romantic, platonic, professional, and familial because the trauma comes from the subsequent communication issues, self-doubt, and fear of rejection.
PTSD From Emotional Abuse Symptoms
Intrusion: Intrusive thoughts, such as reliving a memory of a traumatic experience over and over again, distressing dreams, or flashbacks of the event. Avoidance: Avoiding anything that could remind you of the traumatic event, such as people, places, activities, or situations.
Women with PTSD may be more likely than men with PTSD to: Be easily startled. Have more trouble feeling emotions or feel numb. Avoid things that remind them of the trauma.
Emotional abuse can lead to C-PTSD, a type of PTSD that involves ongoing trauma. C-PTSD shows many of the same symptoms as PTSD, although its symptoms and causes can differ. Treatment should be tailored to the situation to address the ongoing trauma the person experienced from emotional abuse.
Depression
It really is the worst feeling, but it's also motivated some great art over the years.
Pain caused by emotional distress such as rejection, loneliness, guilt, failure etc., is more deeply felt and cause longer-lasting damage to your health and quality of life than that caused by physical injuries. In extreme cases, it may even make you question if your life is worth living.
The highest rate of child abuse is in babies less than one year of age, and 25 percent of victims are younger than age three. The majority of cases reported to Child Protective Services involve neglect, followed by physical and sexual abuse.
Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime. Women between the ages of 18-24 are most commonly abused by an intimate partner. 19% of domestic violence involves a weapon.
Younger children experience abuse or neglect at the highest rate of any age group. The victimization rate was at its highest for children under one year of age, about 25 per 1,000 children. For children 6 years old and above, the victimization rate decreases to under 8 per 1,000 children.
Borderline personality disorder is one of the most painful mental illnesses since individuals struggling with this disorder are constantly trying to cope with volatile and overwhelming emotions.
These acute or chronic conditions can cause severe pain and rank high on a pain scale: Kidney stones. Childbirth. Trauma.
Studies have found that the female body has a more intense natural response to painful stimuli, indicating a difference between genders in the way pain systems function. A greater nerve density present in women may cause them to feel pain more intensely than men.
But heartbreak isn't just melodrama. It's one of the most painful life experiences we have and we need to take it seriously for our mental and physical health.” When Williams's husband left her after 25 years, she felt “imperilled”.
The toxic stress caused by childhood trauma can be harmful. It may damage or delay the healthy development of a child's body and brain. This can leave them vulnerable to chronic health problems, risky behaviors, and mental illness as adults.
Individuals exposed to high levels of verbal abuse from parents, for example, have reduced grey matter volume in their left auditory cortex and abnormalities in an important language-processing pathway in the brain, the left arcuate fasciculus.
Up to 75% of people with BPD have a history of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, witnessed domestic violence, or experienced emotional abuse or neglect. People with BPD often come from a background of dysfunctional family relationships. Hence, trauma and suffering of this kind could be a key factor of BPD.
Avoidance and retreating are common signs of trauma in women. You may avoid anything that seems associated with the trauma. Your emotional response may be to become numb to present situations. Instead of emotional numbing, women may feel a sense of extreme alertness in response to trauma.