Emotional Abuse is often lumped in with Mental Abuse, but they are different. Mental Abuse is about making a person doubt their own perceptions or their own sanity - it’s about effecting a person's mind. And Emotional Abuse is about intentionally either inflicting or suppressing emotional pain - it’s about effecting a person's feelings. People who have extremely abusive tendencies often do both mental and emotional abuse, which is probably why they have been being lumped together. In the reports I've read, Emotional Abuse includes things like intimidating, insulting, degrading, slandering, terrorizing, threatening, humiliating, harassing, isolating, abandoning, depriving, fabricating things against...etc. And below are some other definitions of Emotional Abuse, which are based on my own personal experiences with it.

Emotional Abuse

Emotional Abuse; The intentional infliction of emotional pain; doing or saying things to make a person feel hurt, feel sad, feel fearful or feel angry, and also the intentional suppression of natural grief.

Emotional Abuse is VERY evident in most of the common bullying tactics, which degrade or insult or threaten people with intention to make them feel hurt or feel angry or feel scared. This is an extremely hurtful and cruel form of abuse, which should be a prosecutable crime.

Emotional Abuse is VERY evident in the sadistic aim to make a person feel so hurt that they angrily react, so that the abuser can make the victim look like the bad guy. This is an extremely hurtful and cruel form of abuse, which should be a prosecutable crime.

Emotional Abuse is VERY evident in the sadistic aim to intentionally upset a person and then openly degrade them for feeling hurt or angry or scared. This is an extremely hurtful and cruel form of Emotional Abuse, which should be a prosecutable crime.

Emotional Abuse is VERY evident in the sadistic aim to make a person feel unloved by a parent or sibling or other loved one. This is an extremely hurtful and cruel form of Emotional Abuse, especially when it is done to a child, and it should be a prosecutable crime.

Emotional Abuse is VERY evident in the sadistic aim to intentionally traumatize a person, in order to manipulate or control them. This is an extremely hurtful and cruel form of Emotional Abuse, which should be a prosecutable crime.

Emotional Abuse is VERY evident in the intentional suppression of natural feelings of sadness or grief. This form of emotional abuse is VERY wide spread and is even often thought to be the right thing to do. Most of us do it to ourselves as well as others, to some degree, which is often done through distracting ourselves and others from the natural grieving process. And it is often done with statements like, "don't cry" and "crying is weak" and "you are too sensitive" and "don't take it personally," as if the victim is feeling or doing something wrong. The person who has and expresses natural human feelings is NOT the one who is wrong in these situations... the ones who are doing wrong are those who tell people that their feelings are wrong and that they should suppress them. This is often NOT done with the intent to harm, but the effect is still VERY harmful - it’s still Emotional Abuse. More awareness, about how important it is to not suppress the natural grieving process, that releases our pain and unblocks our hearts, is probably all that is needed to stop most cases of this form of Emotional Abuse. But laws should be set up to stop the abusive intent to force a person to suppress feelings, especially when it is done to make a person more controllable and less caring.

Some severe abusers actually find joy in inflicting emotional pain upon others. This behavior can accurately be called sadistic. And it is extremely harmful.

Some severe abusers fabricate things, in order to manipulate a person against someone else, intentionally inflicting emotional pain in this process; like when an abuser says things like "they said this or that about you" even though it may not be true. Sometimes such statements are true, but are taken out of context or twisted or are only being tattled, in order to inflict emotional pain. But sometimes it is things that are fabricated just to make the victim think badly of someone else, which is an extremely hurtful form of Emotional Abuse; making a person feel hurt so that they get angry at and blame or distrust an innocent or trustworthy person. 

Severe levels of Emotional Abuse should become prosecutable crimes, because it often causes far worse long term damage, 

to the victims wellbeing, than most physical abuses do.

In many parts of our world victims of Emotional Abuse are blamed for having feelings; for taking it personally, for being sensitive, for feeling hurt, for feeling scared, for feeling angry...etc., and this is too horribly wrong for us to let it continue. Along with the awareness of what Emotional Abuse is and haw harmful it is, must also come more awareness of how important it is for us to all retain our full range of natural human feelings, instead of suppressing them. 

Being sensitive is not wrong, but being hurtful is.

Having natural human feelings is not wrong; our full range of natural feelings are needed for the process of growing and evolving into more healthy and whole and compassionate human beings. The most sensitive people are usually the most caring and compassionate people. The problem is NOT that they are "too sensitive" - the problem is that other people are often too INsensitive - too UNcaring - too heartless. We actually need more heart - more sensitivity in our world, not less, and this is evident in the state of our world. Please read my "Embracing Feelings and Healing" book, which is on the Barnes and Noble website, if you want to learn about how to become more sensitive and more caring.

HELP EXPOSE AND STOP ALL FORMS OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Please share this information with as many people as you can.

What I share here is based on only what I have experienced and witnessed. If you have experienced other forms of Emotional Abuse, please share them in a comment and I will consider adding them to my listings here, so that more victims can be validated.

I did a web search and found no accurate descriptions of Emotional Abuse and very little about it. The fact that there was so little on the web about Emotional Abuse is, to me, a sign of how rampant it is and how little has been being done to expose it and stop it from continuing. Please do help spread the word. You are welcome to freely share the information I have on this blog post. Just please do so without plagiarizing - without taking credit for it and without gaining anything from it.

I will soon share more in the pages on the right side of this blog.