Mental abuse consists of verbal and emotional abuse. Both are hurtful, debilitating and even traumatic. According to verbalabuse.com, mentally abusive individuals are often called batterers. Batterers are obsessed with having control over relationships and feel like abusing an individual is a way to gain power. Abuse usually happens behind closed doors, so others do not see the problem or believe the victim.
Verbal Abuse
According to verbalabuse.com, there are different types of verbal abuse: abusive anger, criticizing, name-calling, threatening, and blaming. Abusive anger is when the batterer "blows up" at the victim, often for no logical reason. When batterers are criticizers, they negatively criticize the victim on a constant basis. Name-callers call their victim things that are unnecessary, exaggerated, and/or often untrue. Batterers who threaten their victim often try to make the victim think that the batterer is going to leave the victim for someone else or that the batterer has feelings for another person. Batterers who blame their victims accuse them of things that the batterer actually did, instead of admitting it. A batterer often abuses the victim and then acts as if nothing happened.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse is the second component that makes up mental abuse. According to Emotional Intelligence Online, there are several different types of emotional abuse. Batterers can have abusive expectations, which is when the batterer will put unreasonable demands on the victim. The batterer expects the victim to do what the batterer wants at exactly that moment, no matter what the victim was just doing. Batterers who emotionally abuse victims also often create chaos for no reason. They often pick fights and can be seen as "drama queens." Denying the victim's needs is another way to emotionally abuse someone. Batterers can also deny that certain events happened, give the "silent treatment," or even contest the victim's sanity. Batterers often blackmail their victims emotionally. They will induce emotions in the victim, such as guilt, to get what they want. Trivializing and minimizing are other methods that batterers use. Batterers might suggest that the feelings of the victim are not important.
The last method that can be used for emotional abuse is called unpredictable responses. Batterers often have drastic mood changes, frequently because they are under the effect of alcohol and/or drugs.
Psychological Effects
According to Mental Health.net, victims of abuse can develop a variety of mental illnesses, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Their self-esteem is often negatively affected. Often, a victim does not want to engage in sexual or intimate relationships with the batterer, as it can be emotionally painful. Additionally, severe abuse can lead to suicidal or even homicidal ideation. A victim will always be hurt in one way or another because of abuse, but everyone's response to abuse differs.
