(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Hey, Psych2Goers,
welcome back to another Psych2Go video.
Before we begin,
we would like to thank you for all
the love and support you've given us.
Psych2Go's mission is to make mental health
more accessible to everyone.
Now, let's begin the video.
Have you ever been concerned
you could be a target of emotional abuse?
Emotional abuse is defined as the continued
and deliberate mistreatment of another person
by means of psychological aggression,
intimidation, coercion, control,
and emotional manipulation.
Emotional or verbal abuse is one of the most rampant,
but also most overlooked forms of abuse.
Abuse in any form is never okay.
And it's something no one should ever have to go through.
With this video,
we hope to educate and offer support
if you think you might be a victim of emotional abuse.
Emotional abuse is often misunderstood
and is also much more difficult to recognize.
The negative impact it can have
on your physical health, mental health,
and emotional wellbeing should not be taken lightly.
With that said, let's discuss the eight ways
emotional abuse can cause upheaval and trauma in your life.
One, it takes a long time to recover from.
The emotional trauma that results from emotional abuse
can be felt for much longer than any sort of physical pain.
Where physical pain can eventually heal,
psychological scars often stay with you for life.
It's hard to forget the hurtful things someone says to you
especially if this person was near and dear to your heart.
They ultimately betray your trust
by humiliating you and belittling you
and that kind of emotional pain isn't easy to move on from.
Sometimes even the mere memory of the event
is enough to make someone re-experience
that emotional type of hurt all over again.
Two, most people don't understand what you've been through.
Emotional abuse can be hard to understand
and is sometimes a difficult concept to grasp.
Many people remain ignorant of the way
it can negatively affect your life.
And others tend to be much less sympathetic
towards emotional abuse victims
than they are towards physical abuse victims.
Emotional suffering is personal.
And it's not something other people can see on the surface.
People are more likely to intervene
and help you when you're being physically threatened
than they are when they see you being verbally
and emotionally assaulted.
Three, it gives you a negative outlook on life.
If you've ever fallen victim to emotional abuse,
and especially at a young age,
it can do a lot to shape the way you view
the world and those around you.
Oftentimes you tend to form a negative perspective on life
and struggle with constant feelings of loneliness,
emptiness, and hopelessness as you get older.
If you were ever ignored, rejected,
abandoned, manipulated, or isolated in any way
as a child or an adolescent,
it's going to leave you with a lot of emotional baggage.
Four, it gives you a negative view of yourself.
There's no arguing that both physical
and emotional abuse can have very damaging
and dangerous effects on a person.
But while the former robs you
of your sense of safety and security,
the latter has a way of messing with your head
and tearing down your self-esteem.
Emotional abuse is extremely detrimental
to your sense of self-worth and self-confidence
and it can lead you to develop an inferiority complex.
It's hard to feel good about yourself
when you have someone in your life
who is constantly criticizing you
and preying on all of your insecurities.
Five, it has long-term psychological effects.
Do you have difficulty forming
and maintaining close relationships with others
and struggle with matters of intimacy
and emotional security?
Emotional abuse can bring out a sense
of constant fear, dread, and anxiety.
It can put you at a higher risk for depression and PTSD,
as well as self-harm and suicidal behavior.
People who have been emotionally abused
can have a harder time controlling their emotions
which could lead to problems
with anger management or emotional instability.
Six, emotional abuse can also have physical side effects.
Aside from the psychological toll
emotional abuse can take on you,
it can also leave you with a lot
of physically painful side effects.
The most common symptoms include chronic pain,
chronic fatigue, muscle tension,
insomnia, and other physical symptoms of stress
such as low energy, nausea, chest pains,
chest palpitations, and headaches.
Not only that but emotional abuse
has been found to proceed physical abuse
in a large majority of cases.
Seven, it puts you at risk for mental illness.
People going through emotional abuse
aren't likely to reach out to others and ask them for help
because they often feel that their experiences
are something to be ashamed of, or dismissed,
or that they should deal with it on their own.
But the longer the abuse goes on,
the more likely you might be to resort to harmful ways
of coping with your psychological and emotional distress.
And this is why a lot of studies show
that emotional abuse is a large contributing factor
to the development of substance abuse
and eating disorders in most people.
And eight, it puts you at risk
of becoming an abuser yourself.
Being a victim of emotional abuse
makes you more likely to become an abuser yourself
because everyone else is so quick
to dismiss emotional abuse
and make it seem like it's not really a big deal.
You might be tempted to take your frustrations out on others
or reclaim your sense of power
by emotionally abusing someone else.
Studies show that an alarming majority of children
who have been victims of abuse,
be it physical or verbal,
grew up to become abusers too later on in their lives.
Do you relate to any of these points mentioned?
If you were or currently are ever emotionally abused,
it's important you understand
that it wasn't and is not your fault.
No one deserves to be treated that way.
Don't hesitate to talk to a friend
or reach out to a mental health care professional today
and get the help that you need.
If you found this video helpful,
be sure to like it and share this video
with someone else who might benefit from it.
Don't forget to hit the subscribe button
for more Psych2Go videos.
The references and studies used in this video
are added in the description below.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you in our next video.