Please Note: the contents of this article discuss emotional abuse and may not be suitable for all readers. If this article makes you uncomforable, stay safe and check out our other articles!
Emotional abuse, just like physical abuse, is NOT ok. Emotional abuse is when someone is mentally attacking you, making you feel awful about yourself and manipulating you. The outcome could be more anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The reason why emotional abuse and physical abuse feel the same is because you feel attacked in both scenarios, and feel as if someone is leaving bruises and scars on yourself.
All this was happening for the past 3 years of my life. The people who abused me manipulated me into thinking I was an awful person for having anxiety. As a result I started losing my self esteem,I began hating myself, my anxiety got worse, and so did my depression. They would say “You’re always weighing me down”, “Always sad”, “I’m not your f**king therapist”. I was also called a liar for something that did not happen, something known as gaslighting.
Gaslighting is a form of manipulation in which a person gains power by making the victim question their own reality. The person was making me question my own reality, and when I kept saying “I don’t remember.” He would ponder the same thing for like 20 minutes. He would say “Just because you don’t remember it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.” He would eventually go to an extreme worse case scenario.
Once I cut those people out of my life, I felt a ton of weight was lifted off my shoulders and I could finally feel free to be the person I want to be.
If you feel like someone is making you feel bad for who you are, someone is making you question your sanity, if you feel anxious around someone, I think it is best you stay away from them. Talk to someone you trust whether it be a friend, a parent, a professor, a counselor, and or a manager. They can help guide you in the right direction towards your safety and mental health, and remember you have every right to feel anxious and are allowed to feel those emotions.