[HALLIEBETH87]

Is it just me....or...

does anyone else feel like maybe my abuse as a child isn't as bad or important as others stories? I know its left me with PTSD and a lot of pain still but when Im asked if I have past abuse I always feel pathetic to say emotional and verbal.

I know how much it hurt those 10 years and that it still hurts me now but...

I feel stupid even mentioning it because so many people have had it far worse.

All well. Maybe I wont mention it anymore.

[indigo11]

I've learned to not compare my abuse with others. Words hurt as well. They begin repeating in minds.

[nicoleflynn]

The Verbally Abusive Relationship by Patricia Evans savedmy life. Verbal abuse crushes your soul.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I still fight in my mind all the things she said and did to us. I still believe ugly things she said about me and fear she WILL come and kill me like she said so many times. I'm not as bad as I use to be because I'm older and stronger but that crap still resurfaces and I hate it.

[Oystersoul]

I can understand your feelings because they mirror my own, doesn't mean to say we're right though x

[LettinG0]

My abuse as a child was sexual in nature, and I "minimize" it as well. I always think that what happened to me was not 'nearly as bad as' what has happened to many others.

But, ANY abuse is abuse and it damages us. We have the right to acknowledge the abuse and its damage.

[CopperStar]

Emotional damage is at the core of every type of abuse there is.

If you have a non-violent sexual experience as a consenting adult with a good partner, you don't get traumatized. If you have the exact same physical experience as a child with a predator, you get traumatized.

The physical acts can be identical, but it is how we mentally and emotionally experience a situation that determines whether or not it will be positive, neutral or traumatizing.

Emotional abusers are abusers who go right for the throat. They don't give their victims any tangible, visible evidence to show others. They don't commit specific acts that a victim can tell others about and have others immediately understand. Emotional abusers direct all of their venom to invisible, non-tangible parts of their victims. If anything, emotional abuse can be the worst of all, IMO.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Thanks for such kind responses. Thank you. <3

She was mean. So mean. Her words still get me from time to time. Im still scared of her too. I panic when I even go to the town she lives in. I freak out!

[PrairieCat]

I am a survivor of severe emotional neglect and emotional abuse and big time workaholic parents. I'm in counseling, thank God. I am having very relevant dreams. So far I have dreamed TWICE that my mother is trying to kill me - in different ways. I am just grateful that they were only dreams - or I should say nightmares!

Emotional abuse is just as bad as physical or sexual abuse, say the experts. I can only agree. Whatever it is, it is SICK. It is painful to acknowledge and accept. Nobody really wants to accept it. You must.