Emotional abuse encompasses a wide variety of behaviors. Traditionally, emotional abuse is thought of as name calling and verbal assaults, but it can also include nonverbal behaviors, such as aggressive body language, implied house rules or jealousy. According to the Journal of Emotional Abuse, this type of abuse is largely understudied and inconsistently identified and reported, but is believed to have a serious impact on all areas of the victim's life, including work, school and other relationships. It's often present in relationships where other types of abuse are also present, but can exist on its own as a single, powerful form of abuse.
Prevalence
Emotional abuse is believed to be far more common and prevalent than physical or sexual abuse; however, because of a lack of standards and research surrounding emotional abuse, it's often the least reported. According to the USC Department of Social Work, emotional abuse only accounted for roughly 7 percent of abuse cases reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2007. The Journal of Emotional Abuse reports that those who are emotionally abused are unlikely to identify themselves as abuse victims because a direct physical or sexual act did not occur, making it even more difficult to gauge the prevalence of emotional abuse in relationships.
Classification
Emotional abuse is broken down into six different categories of behavior: terrorizing, rejecting, isolating, degrading, exploiting and denying emotional response. According to the USC School of Social Work, terrorizing is the most common type. Terrorizing is a form of emotional abuse that consists of direct threats to a person's life, safety or property. This usually involves the perpetrator threatening to kill the victim or himself if his wishes aren't met. Rejecting includes behaviors such as devaluing a person, pushing her away or treating her as inferior to other members of the family. Isolating is a form of abuse in which the victim has limited contact with others or the outside world. This can have severe psychological consequences. Degrading is the most common form. This includes name calling, shaming and humiliation, both in private and in public. Exploitation involves using the victim for personal gain, such as forcing her into prostitution, making her perform illegal acts or using her as a means of income or power. Finally, denying emotional response is the act of withholding love, affection or care to the victim. Victims are seen as objects and not human beings and are treated as such.
Direct and Indirect Forms
Common and direct forms of emotional abuse include name calling, shaming and humiliation. This may be the perpetrator calling the victim worthless or constantly criticizing her clothes, appearance, cooking, decisions, parenting and housekeeping abilities. This diminishes the victim's self worth, so she may begin to feel these things are true and that she deserves such criticism. Indirect forms of emotional abuse are harder to pin down, but just as dangerous. For example, if one partner controls who the other partner can talk to, where she can go and how she can spend her money, this could be a form of emotional abuse. Jealousy, controlling behaviors, strict rules and constant criticism are also red flags for emotional abuse.
Impact
According to the Journal of Emotional Abuse, this type of treatment has far-reaching implications. The first and most obvious is the strong connection between emotional abuse and depression and anxiety disorders. Emotional abuse also interferes with the victim's ability to form healthy relationships with others and to perform well at work or in school. This can lead to economic disadvantages that make it more difficult for abuse victims to seek treatment and become self-sufficient. The Journal of Emotional Abuse reports that instances of emotional abuse lessen the abused person's sense of emotional awareness and increases the likelihood that they will emotionally abuse their children and family members.
Treatment
Programs that serve victims of domestic violence can also assist victims of emotional abuse. Victims can often use these services to find empowerment, safe housing, employment and mental health services. Therapy programs and mental health services can help victims develop coping skills, self-esteem and the ability to recognize abusive patterns in the future and in current relationships as well as the ability to manage anxiety and depression. Treatment depends on the severity of the emotional abuse and whether it's paired with other forms of abuse.
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