On the surface, the degree and intensity of the emotional abuse I have experienced, is mild. It was covert, insidious. It was the gaslighting feeling of being unseen. I finally learned those people intentionally acted unseeing. Once I got it, I distanced myself and protected myself.

Of course it makes sense that I would feel destabilized because those few people professed to love me, then treated me so callously and dismissively. The “mild” emotional abuse sent me reeling into severe emotional dysregulation.

Distancing myself has completely stopped the emotional lability instantly.