This is the definition of mental/emotional abuse: A form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including: anxiety, chronic depression, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder. Such abuse is often associated with situations of power imbalance. It can include anything from verbal abuse and constant criticism to more subtle tactics, such as intimidation, manipulation, and refusal to ever be pleased.
The victim’s self-worth, integrity, and emotional well-being are often altered and even entirely diminished by the verbal abuse. The victim’s self-concept and independence are systematically stripped away. Less obvious emotionally abusive tactics include arbitrary and unpredictable inconsistency, and gas lighting (which is the denial that previous abusive incidents have ever occurred).
Emotional abuse is based on power and control and often has the trait of denying emotional responsiveness or responding in an overly emotional, often volatile way that is disproportionate to the situation. The crucial components of emotional abuse are characterized by a climate of behavior that is reccurring over time; sustained and repetitive, not the result of a single event.
Emotional abuse of a child can seriously interfere with a child’s development. A child whose family is characterized in their formative years as one of interpersonal violence, including psychological aggression and verbal aggression, may exhibit a range of serious disorders, including chronic depression and challenges with anger management.
Later in life, victims may exhibit high rates of PTSD, drug addiction, alcoholism, love addiction, sexual promiscuity, difficulty forming intimate relationships, and/or job instability.
Studies show that the impact of emotional abuse does not differ significantly from that of physical abuse, but depending on the circumstances, may have even farther reaching implications.
Many abusers are able to control their victims in a manipulative manner, utilizing methods to persuade, rather than to force them to do something they do not wish to do. Because abuse can be carried out covertly through various tactics, victims often don't perceive the true nature of the relationship until conditions worsen considerably.
As a side note, psychological abuse is often not recognized by survivors of domestic violence as abuse. This is often the case when referring to victims of abuse within intimate relationships, as they may experience difficulty identifying and processing their own emotions; and non-recognition of the actions as abuse may be a coping or defense mechanism in order to either seek to master, minimize or tolerate stress or conflict which they feel they have little power over or limited ability to escape.
Lastly, perpetrators of emotional/psychological abuse exhibit high rates of other personality disorders, including narcissistic personality disorder. And very rarely do they acknowledge themselves as the antagonist in relationships, and never to the extent that it is true.
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