“When someone constantly puts you down, leaves you feeling like you can’t do anything right, or makes you feel worthless and bad about yourself in general - just know you did nothing wrong and that this isn’t love, it’s emotional abuse.”
Anomymous
Domestic & Narcissistic Abuse explained
Domestic Abuse
Domestic abuse can have a serious impact on our wellbeing and it can affect our mental and physical health leaving us with low self esteem and confidence. There are different categories of abuse and below are some of the categories.
verbal abuse and criticism (shouting, name-calling, threatening, mocking)
guilt/pressuring tactics (threatening self-harm or suicide, taking away your phone/laptop, threatening to call the authorities on you, lying to friends and family about you)
putting you down (disrespecting you in front of others, not listening or responding to you when you talk)
isolation (monitoring or blocking your connection with others, stopping you from leaving the house, telling you where you can and cannot go)
lying to you (breaking promises, having affairs, often blaming you)
threats (physically or verbally threatening you)
sexual violence (using force, threatening you to perform sexual acts, forcing you to have sex with other people)
physical violence (hitting, kicking, pushing, restraining you)
denial (making you think you’re imagining the abuse, saying they can’t control their anger, appearing charming/calm in front of others, begging for forgiveness)
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Narcissistic Abuse
Narcissistic abuse can be physical and/or mental abuse and can include gaslighting (the abuser denies they have done or said something), the silent treatment (they ignore you). They can use threats and intimidation to frighten you. The scale of their behaviour can range from mild to severe.
If you have been in a relationship with a narcissist then you may be feeling exhausted, confused, scared and overwhelmed with everything that is or has been happening. Narcissistic abuse is by far one of the most emotionally draining experiences you can go through in a relationship and the affects this has on you can take a long time to overcome. Your sense of self may be distorted, and you may feel lost and unsure of who you are and why this happened to you.
Counselling can help you try to make sense of how you are feeling and support you in taking back your power.
