By ONWE DAMIAN
Post date
As Physical abuse is to the body, so is emotional abuse in a Relationship to the mind (one’s feelings).
At the beginning of every relationship, emotional abuse is often overlooked and not easily noticed.
But unlike physical abuse that can be seen by everyone, abuse emotionally is something you feel within (inside) and cannot be noticed by others except they are been told.
They are many signs associated with an emotionally abusive relationship. For instance, a partner who plays down on your intelligence is indirectly abusing you emotionally and intellectually.
Other examples of emotional abuse includes name calling, criticism, accusations, verbal abuse, manipulations etc.
Emotional abuse often brings low self-esteem.
The problem now is, how do you notice when your partner is abusing you emotionally?
One major aim of emotional abuse is to discredit you, isolate you, silence and make you feel bad about yourself.
Although some partners may not really know that they are abusing you emotionally.
For instance, a partner who manipulates you in other to favour him/herself, may not consider such as an emotional abuse. But the truth is that you will always feel hurt at the end of everything.
Emotional abuse is most of the time worse than physical abuse. But they often live some negative feelings behind.
Below are the signs or symptoms that will help you to know when you’re being abused emotionally in your Relationship.
Table of Contents
10 Signs of Emotional Abuse in a Relationship
Although emotional abuse is often subtle but if you see the following signs in your relationship, you’re been abused emotionally.
- You’re often criticized.
- Your partner abuses you verbally
- You often feel rejected and worthless
- You’re often manipulated
- They withhold their affections for you.
- You’re often treated with disrespect.
- You’re always at fault and ever ready to apologize.
- They make you feel guilty at all time.
- They dismiss your opinions
- You’re often seen as inferior etc.
If you ever notice any of the above mentioned abusive behaviour from your partner, then you’re often abused emotionally in your Relationship.
If I may ask, what are the causes of emotional abuse in a Relationship?
Causes of Emotional Abuse
To me, emotional abuse is often caused by low self-esteem.
When one fails to value him/herself, others will always take you for granted.
For instance, it is very difficult to abuse someone with high self-esteem.
So, when you feel like you’re not the right person for your partner, he/she will always take you for granted especially if he/she is a toxic partner.
Effects of Emotional Abuse
One of the consequences of emotional abuse in a relationship is that it makes one lose his/her sense of belonging.
For instance, if your partner often humiliates you in the public, you will always feel like you’re not qualified to be his/her partner.
Another effect of emotional abuse is that it brings low self-esteem. and when low self-esteem comes in, you will often feel rejected and lonely.
How to deal with Emotional Abuse in a Relationship
Everyone who has experienced emotional abuse in the past will tell you how it pains. It pains to see your partner hurting your feelings. But what do you do to save yourself from this terrible situation?
1. Be aware that you’re often abused emotionally:
According to Wikihow, ‘ Emotional abuse functions to make you feel small and strip you of your independence and self-worth’
So, the first step is to recognize the signs of emotional abuse.
Admit that you’re abused emotionally. Check yourself to know whether you’re experiencing any of the signs mentioned above.
2. Discuss it:
I emphasize on communication most in all my posts. The reason is that communication is the basic thing in every relationship. If you don’t say it out no one will know what you’re passing through.
Having seen the signs of emotional abuse in your relationship, the second step is to discuss the matter with your partner.
Tell him/her how you feel about the way they are hurting your emotions.
3. Build or Develop your self-esteem:
As I have stated above that one of the causes of emotional abuse is low self-esteem, the only remedy to this now is to build your self-esteem.
Don’t often downgrade yourself. See yourself as equal to your partner. Refuse to be intimidated by your partner. And also, learn how to value yourself.
In This Article
The worst feeling of all is being manipulated .
This makes us look foolish and often we feel emotionally used. The pain is more when you’re in a healthy relationship and your partner manipulates you in doing something. After all, a relationship is established in trust.
No matter how smart or intelligent you’re, a woman can still manipulate you, if she wants. The best way to escape this is to know the signs. Let’s have a look at the signs of a manipulative woman.
How to spot a manipulative woman?
To be able to protect yourself from a manipulative woman, you must know the manipulative woman signs.
1. Emotional outburst
Women are known to have emotional outbursts. They are expressive and don’t shy away from doing so.
However, one of the important signs of a manipulative woman is they experience emotional outburst right in the middle of an important argument. The moment they see that they’re about to lose an argument or the blame is shifting towards them, they get quite emotional . This sidelines the discussion, and arguments take an ugly turn.
2. Smooth talker
Some women are very manipulative. However, to be a smooth talker is one of the signs of a manipulative woman.
They’ll turn your emotions subtly to what they want to you do. Without realizing, you will end up doing things that they want you to do believing you always wanted to do it. Confusing, right? Imagine how bad it can be in a real situation.
3. State of denial
A manipulative woman is good at denial. When you confront them about their manipulating habit, they will straight away move to the denial stage. They will say that they have nothing to do with it and will play with a trump card, being emotional. Suddenly, the whole argument from them being manipulative will move to them being emotional.
4. Good at lying
Lying is one of the manipulative woman traits.
They know when, how and how much to lie about. They do it openly and without any shame. For them, getting the work done is far more important than what people may make out of her lying.
5. Being nice
This is one of the interesting signs of the manipulative woman. A manipulative woman will be nice to you when they want you to do something for them. They would use their charm and charismatic personality to woo you over. Once the work is done, they would move back to their original behavior.
6. No financial support
When in a relationship, both of you must invest money equally. There is no harm in expecting some financial support from your woman. However, as per the signs of a manipulative woman, they won’t invest their money into it, at all. This is because back in their minds, they’re sure that it’s not a steady relationship.
7. Being a critic
Criticism in a relationship isn’t supportive.
You are free to share beliefs and what you feel like, but questioning each and every action or habits of your partner is not at all helpful. So, if your woman is a total critic who puts you in an awkward position all the time, then consider this as one of the signs of a manipulative woman.
8. Playing innocent
When in a relationship, you must share responsibilities equally. It’s a sign that you both are ready to invest time in it and trust each other. However, a manipulative woman will shy away from taking up any responsibility, and won’t think twice before acting innocent. All she would want is no responsibility in a relationship.
9. Make you feel bad
There are ups and downs. There is individualism in a relationship as well. One can’t be always right and one can’t be always wrong. However, a manipulative woman will make you feel bad if you refuse to do things the way she wants it or follow her orders. She will make you feel the world’s worst boyfriend, and eventually, you would do what she wants you to do.
10. Playing the victim
One can’t be the victim all the time in a relationship. There are times when you’re wrong and there are times when she is wrong. However, when you’re wrong, she will make you feel worse. When she is wrong, she will play the victim and make you feel bad.
11. Ignoring than apologizing
Saying sorry makes your relationship strong. When you’ve not something wrong, by saying sorry you’re strengthening your relationship. However, one of the s igns of a manipulative woman is that they would start ignoring you than to apologize to you. They won’t mind even if you don’t initiate the conversation after this. They won’t apologize first, and that’s final.
12. Sexually manipulative
A sexually manipulative woman is least bothered about emotions. She won’t hesitate to manipulate you for sexual pleasure. All she cares about is herself and no one else.
