Emotional Abuse

What is emotional abuse?

Emotional abuse can occur in any kind of relationship; in a marriage, a partnership, as part of a family dispute or in a work relationship with co-workers. Essentially, emotional abuse is a consistent pattern of behaviour which wears down a person’s self-esteem and controls them, whether done deliberately or subliminally. It can lead to other forms of abuse, particularly domestic abuse, sexual abuse or financial abuse and is a cycle that can repeat itself and be difficult to escape.

How does emotional abuse affect you?

Words or actions which are aimed at bullying you or controlling you can make you feel trapped, isolated and afraid. You may be in this situation with children who you need to protect, and this can make you feel vulnerable, confused and frustrated. In extreme cases a continuing pattern of emotional abuse can lead to depression and a sense of worthlessness, which can end up with health issues, including mental health, self-harm or even suicide.

What are the signs of emotional abuse?

It can be hard to recognise the signs of emotional abuse because they can start with small behavioural actions or simply as an innocent joke that goes too far. But in either of those cases these can be subtle actions which over time begin to make you feel uncomfortable. Harrogate Family Law would always advise you to talk to your partner to help recognise and acknowledge how these actions make you feel, and sometimes behaviours can change amicably as a result, and for the better. But sadly, it is not always that simple, and where actions reoccur over a long period of time, they can slowly chip away at your resilience and become very damaging.

Emotional abuse occurs when someone is trying to control, criticise, publically embarrass you, shape you, blame you, manipulate you, discredit you or silence you. The perpetrator can make unreasonable demands, be dissatisfied with anything you do, be critical of anything you do, object to you having your own opinion, invalidate you and your emotions or can use emotional blackmail against you. In all cases they will try to act superior and may even resort to gaslighting you.

How can you get support for emotional abuse?

Harrogate Family Law have vast experience in dealing with incidents of emotional abuse, and our specialist family law solicitors are trained to use their personal skills to offer the most sympathetic support and advice on a strictly confidential basis. The first thing you need to do is recognise and acknowledge the emotional abuse and then make yourself the priority. Only then can you make a plan to resolve the situation.

Our team can help you build a support network of family, friends and authority bodies who can help and support you, through this you can begin to create an exit plan for you and your family. This could be divorce or separation, but there are specialist ways in which this can be done safely and while ensuring you have financial independence and authority. At the same time, if this abuse needs to be reported to the authorities, we can help you with that as well, so get in touch with Harrogate Family Law without delay, and we can bring an end to your traumatic situation.