is there a difference?

is there a difference between mental, emotional, and psychological abuse? if so what is it?

"Sometimes it takes us to the bottom of our misery to understand the truth..."
~Gustav Havel - existentialist

I think it is just about all the same with different names??

In giving advice seek to help, not please your friend
SOLON

I think mental and emotional abuse fall under the heading of psychological abuse. But they are seperate in their nuances. Mental abuse is more like someone making you feel crazy by denying factual info. Like you know that you saw him take the spoon out of the drawer and threw it in the garbage but he repeats over and over he didn't and insists it was you who did it so after awhile you begin to doubt what you thought was true.

Emotional abuse is like when he says he loves you and you begin to trust him and love him back but then he withdraws his love from you. Or when you are denied the right feel something like when a parents tells a child that they are wrong to be afraid of the monster under the bed or the spouse says that you have totally blown everything out of proportion and have gone off the deep end. Or if someone goes off the deep end at you when you know there isn't any real trigger for the outburst.

Just my thoughts.
Carrie

<font color=blue>The important thing is this: to be able at any momeent to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.--Charles Du Bos

Zen,
Those are great examples, yeah you are definately right about them having seperate nuances.
In regards to my husband and his unwanted ribbing at times about my mental stability, I tell him he is mentally abusing me, messing with my mind, but eventually we make light of it but then again I feel there are times I am being mentally abused. In the long run it is all abuse regardless of which form, just wish we could all know ahead of time when, where
and who will cause this kind of abuse.
Hope you are doing well.
Take care,
"darkeyes"

In giving advice seek to help, not please your friend
SOLON

wouldn't that be nice. I wonder if we knew in advance would we still get into the situation? Would we be more prepared so that we could change the situation?
Carrie

<font color=blue>The important thing is this: to be able at any momeent to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.--Charles Du Bos

That makes a lot of sense... but i would think that psychological abuse would be a deeper form of mental abuse... like, for it to be more psychologically damaging... for example... like, if someone has an anxiety problem about a few things or aspects of life or themself or anything of the sort, et cetera, for a person to take those specific things, knowing how much they affect the person in their life already, and say things that intensify the anxieties to a major degree, ya know? though i agree with your defnitions of emotional and mental abuse... and i guess it makes sense for them to fall under the heading of psychological abuse... but i guess i would think that psychological abuse would be of its own, and a bit more sever than just mental abuse... (but i really can't decide which i agree with more, my initial thoughts, or your definitions... because there will always be different degree's of these words...) Oh well, its up for debate.
~JulieBean

"Sometimes it takes us to the bottom of our misery to understand the truth..."
~Gustav Havel - existentialist