What Is Psychological Abuse?

by thunderbird

Posted: 14 years ago 7 replies

OFF TOPIC

The term psychological abuse comes up in lots of articles or conversations. I've even used this term, but I've never actually defined it. What is psychological abuse? What is the opposite of psychological abuse?

Patrician 14 years ago

Psychological abuse can be executed by verbal abuse, for one thing. Using verbal abuse would be calling names, putting someone down, saying horrible things, threatening, and generally playing mind games, which can constitute 'mental cruelty'.

All of these strategies can damage someone's self-esteem and leave scars on their 'psyche' that last a lifetime. (and can tend to create monsters like serial killers and rapists for example).

The opposite would be kindness, affirmations and showing love to build a person's confidence.

A good book to read on subtle and not so subtle psychological abuse is 'The Games People Play' (by Dr. Erik Byrne) (think I am spelling it right).
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- waterotter 14 years ago
  
  Do not confuse psychological abuse with physical abuse.
  
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  medi50cus 13 years ago
  
  Psychological abuse leaves the victim blaming herself and questioning her own perceptions over the behavior of the abusive partner and it can start very insidiously.
  
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Andie 13 years ago

Hey Thunder,
What you have to keep in mind is that "psychological" is a broader type of term that can be inflicted in many many ways, and manifest in different ways as well. All within the framework of our mental/emotional being. It can be subtle compared to other types of abuse, or not so much like Kay mentioned.

All sorts of things fall under that umbrella from depression, anxiety etc etc...

serious you!
Andie
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- thunderbird 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Andie
  
  Hey Thunder,
  <snip> It can be subtle compared to other types of abuse...<snip>
  Andie
  
  Subtle...I imagine it can be done with such surgical precision that it is all but invisible to outsiders, especially if it is in a "golden cage". That is scary.
  
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Zabrina 13 years ago

It can be very subtle, yeah. If a person is in enough pain, they might not even realize they're doing it to someone else. Those situations are, in a way, nastier than situations where it's obvious because you can't really say to the person "you abuser, I'm leaving you" in quite the same manner.
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Rikki_Fawkes 13 years ago

Sometimes it's making a person feel guilt feelings for no valid reason. This usually plants the seed for worse psychological abuse later on.
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