Emotional Abuse

In emotional abuse, the victim is usually coerced verbally accompanied by unceasing criticism, rejection, and browbeating. Compared to physical abuse, the impact of emotional abuse is way more damaging, and its effects on the feelings of the victim last longer. Continuous mistreatment from the abuser weakens and eventually breaks the victim's spirit. All courage will be lost and confidence fades along with the sense of self-worth. The victim will be so battered emotionally that his mental state is no longer capable of seeing the reality of the situation and he blames himself for everything. Victims do not usually show that they are being abused and never talk about the ongoing emotional torture because of embarrassment and fear. It is difficult to determine abuse in most cases but here are some helpful signs to identify the existence of emotional abuse

Signs of an Emotionally Abused Teen
By Wirnani Garner

1  Lacks energy and exhibits extreme boredom on any given type of activities at home or in school.

2  Easily gets distracted, thinking is slow, and concentration is decreased, which leads to low grades

3  Low self-esteem and always thinks bad or low about himself

4  Exhibits abasement behavior by blaming oneself about any negative events of his life

5  Shows excessive depression to any type of rejection and lacks motivation in trying to correct that failure.

6  Feels desperate and hopeless about life and neglects his personal looks and hygiene.

7  Demonstrates sadness by isolating himself, constantly crying, and getting into arts like music and poetry containing negative themes (such as death and hatred)

8  Displays bitterness and lacks connection among others, whether it be friends or family

9  Overly secretive and has difficulty in expressing ones feelings, believing that nobody ever listens to him.

10  Constantly complains about being sick, having headaches, stomach pains, dizziness and the need to throw up.

11  Existence of inappropriate hysterical outrage and destructive behavior towards other people; may also be destructive of his surroundings and acts out, setting fires, engaging in vandalism and animal cruelty.

12  Shows unstable patterns of sleep -- is unable to sleep at night, has difficulty in waking up for school, and sleeps during day time.

13  Finds comfort in drugs and alcohol leading to excessive addiction

14  Exhibits abnormal eating patterns such as eating and throwing up (bulimia), extreme decrease in weight due to loss of appetite (anorexia), extreme weight gain due to excessive eating (obesity)

15  Highly pessimistic about life and shows it by being suicidal and self-destructive -- cutting ones skin, pulling of hair, and beating oneself until body is black and blue.

16  Runs away from home and joins clubs or gangs that are into committing crime and violence

Also, see this link: http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/families/family_abuse.html#