Quote:
Originally Posted by Depletion
And if the person says that its abuse then its abuse. Lots of people who commit abuse have their own reasons for doing what they do, and are often trying to meet their own needs in a problematic way, and that is dysfunctional, but the result is abuse. And I do not think that the term is overused. Abuse is something that exists in epidemic proportions, and that is something that needs to be pointed out. Moreover people should be allowed to choose their own labels for what happened to them, and if Partless says it's abuse then that's what it is.
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Not sure I completely agree with all of this as a general statement.
Just because someone calls something abuse does not necessarily make it so. If I take away my son's cell phone because he ran up expensive charges, he might not like it, call me unfair and tell me I'm a horrible parent, but if he were to call that abuse, that doesn't make it so. I'm not discussing any one person's experience here, so don't chastise me for invalidating anyone. That is not at all my point. But to say as a blanket statement that "people should be allowed to choose their own labels for what happened to them" is probably going a bit far.
I think we at some point have to differentiate between events we found hurtful for whatever reason that may stick with us and events and actions that go beyond that point to truly being abusive by definition.