Like you saw in the story on Melanie and Bob in the previous post, Emotional Abuse…is it happening to you, abuse is subtle, it sneaks up on you and before you know it, the self–esteem and self-worth you spent many years building up…well, they’ve disappeared! Many women don’t even know it’s happening to them until they find themselves feeling useless and hopeless. The vicious cycle of emotional abuse can be broken! Don’t let yourself get to the point or worthlessness or hopelessness. Do something about it today! If you are wondering if you are in an emotionally abusive situation, check out these warning signs:
IS IT EMOTIONAL ABUSE – 15 WARNING SIGNS
- Does your partner/other criticize, belittle, yell, use rage, name call, put you down, use verbal assault as a weapon?
- Are you made fun of or ridiculed in front of others, and told “lighten up, can’t you take a joke?”
- Are you constantly walking on broken glass, feeling like if you do something wrong it will upset and make the abuser angry? Are you constantly trying to avoid him/her?
- Do you have unrealistic expectations placed on you, the abuser knowing full well you cannot meet these expectations?
- Does he/she play mind games with you?
- Is everything your fault and says, you the one that needs to change?
- Does their opinion and feelings count but yours do not?
- Does he/she withhold love, affection and intimacy from you as a punishment? Do they frequently withdraw from you?
- Is she/he making subtle comments on your weight and or appearance?
- He/she cannot apologize for anything they have done?
- Is he/she secretive?
- Does he/she use “Emotional Blackmail?” This is when they manipulate you into doing what they want by using your fears and guilt against you. Fear of them leaving you if you don’t do what they want.
- Is he/she constantly bringing up your past failures and mistakes
- Does your partner/spouse control all the finances and not give you access to them.
- Do you feel constantly controlled, dominated, disrespected, devalued and worthless in your relationship?
Keep in mind, emotional abuse is a consistent behavior, it is a pattern of behavior that happens over time, not an isolated one time incident. If you answered yes to 3 of the above questions, becoming educated on breaking the cycle of abuse will be beneficial to you. There is lots of hope when it comes to breaking this cycle, please visit one of my earlier posts, “Breaking the Cycle of Emotional Abuse” for more information…because you are so worth it!
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