Emotional Abuse

Emotional or psychological abuse (terms often used interchangeably) involves trauma to the victim caused by verbal abuse, acts, threats of acts, or coercive tactics. Perpetrators use emotional or psychological abuse to control, terrorize, and denigrate their victims. It frequently occurs prior to or concurrently with physical or sexual abuse.

Emotional or psychological abuse includes:

• Humiliating the victim
• Controlling what the victim can/cannot do
• Withholding information from the victim
• Deliberately doing something to make the victim feel diminished/embarrassed
• Isolating the victim from friends/family
• Denying the victim access to money or other basic resources
• Stalking
• Denigrating the victim in public or in private
• Undermining the victim’s confidence and/or sense of self-worth
• Convincing the victim (s)he is crazy
• Other forms of verbal abuse.