I’m a person who has dealt with verbal abuse. No one ever gave me the silent treatment. I got the verbal treatment, instead (berated). It’s interesting to me that the silent treatment was not a form of abuse done in a family system whose go-to method was verbal lashing out. It’s essentially the same sentiment, though. The person keeping silent is expressing their disdain, making sure the other person understands that they are angry with them, and that their way to express it is to refuse to speak and sulk so that the other person should feel so bad that THEY do what the silent person wants (apologize, do/not do some action that was wanted). It is a tactic of manipulation.

Such a behavior never would have been tolerated in a family where lashing out verbally was what was done. The silent person would have been berated and bullied into vocalization. Personally, I wouldn’t put up with that for a minute and would, myself, dismiss that person or badger them into using their words.