Psychological Abuse
Psychological abuse involves the regular and deliberate use of a range of words and non-physical actions used with the purpose to manipulate, hurt, weaken or frighten a person mentally and emotionally; and/or distort, confuse or influence a person’s thoughts and actions within their everyday lives, changing their sense of self and harming their wellbeing.
Perpetrators use a wide range of hidden tactics to maintain control and brainwash their victim. Abusive behavior is interspersed with warmth and kindness, slowly desensitising the victim to the behavior.
Psychological abuse can include someone regularly:
- Presenting insults as a joke
- Presenting different versions of events
- Embarrassing you in public or in front of family, friends, support workers or people you work with
- Calling you names
- Threatening to harm you, your pets, children, or other people who are important to you
- Treating you badly because of things you can’t change — for example, your religion, race, past, disability, gender, sexuality, or family
- Ignoring you or pretending you aren’t there
- Doing and saying things that make you feel confused. This might include someone moving or changing things and then denying they have done this.
- Always correcting what you say with the aim of making you look or feel foolish.
- Intentionally making you question your own memory and mental health, also known as gaslighting. By withholding information and lying, gaslighters try to control a person’s thoughts, feelings, and actions to weaken a person’s confidence deliberately and gradually.