Find Out If You’re In An Emotionally Abusive Relationship
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Signs of Abuse
Do you feel like you have to âwalk on eggshellsâ around your partner? Are you afraid a lot of the time in your relationship? Is your self esteem being slowly eroded? Itâs possible youâre in an emotionally abusive relationship.
Emotional abuse can sometimes be a tricky thing to identify for those in the situation because often the abuser employs tactics that make the other person feel like theyâre going crazy. Abusive people will dominate conversations so that the other has little time to decide if the behavior is harmful.
Thereâs often a pervasive sense of being off balance for the person being emotionally abused. They start to question their own thinking and eventually believe that they must have it wrong and in fact, theyâre the bad ones for daring to believe such a thing about the abuser! We call this âcrazy-makingâ because thatâs precisely the impact it has on the receiver.
In my own practice Iâve seen couples come in where itâs pretty obvious this is going on. Iâve seen men and women in emotionally abusive dynamics with their partners. Iâve witnessed people literally verbally âshut downâ their partner â and the other one shrink away right before my eyes.
Part of the problem for people who are being emotionally abused is they often donât realize it. Their self-confidence has been whittled down to a nub.
Could you be in an emotionally abusive relationship?
Ask yourself the following five questions â which are also signs you might be in an emotionally abusive relationship:
1) Does your partner frequently criticize or humiliate you?
2) Does your partner isolate you from your family and friends?
3) Has your partner ever limited or controlled your access to money?
4) Do you feel trapped in your relationship?
5) Are you afraid of your partner?
The Cycle of Abuse
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About the author: To learn more about Lisa Brookes Kift, visit The Therapy and Counseling Blog.
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