I wonder that too. In my mind the bruises and welts my mum left on me as a 6 /7 year old constituted abuse. It was when I pointed that out to my mum that she stopped hitting us (mostly), so I guess she thinks so too. I've never spoken to anyone about it except my sister a few months ago (and now on here!) and my sister just thinks Im over reacting to a 'couple of wallops' and Im an awful person trying to make our mum look bad.

What makes me stand firm about the mum stuff though, is that I have DID. That doesn't happen with a couple of wallops. And if you are suffering from Trauma inflicted MH issues too, then I think you can be confident that the welts and bruises you and your brother experienced are abuse?