Relationship
4 Red Flags Of Emotional Abuse In A Relationship That You Might Take For Granted
Before getting to the signs of emotional abuse, one must realize that abuse is not only of the physical kind.
We often do not regard emotional abuse as abuse because it does not come with tangible harm, but the harm caused by emotional abuse is far more difficult to fix or get over.
We often dismiss signs of emotional abuse as “a phase” or thinking that our partner probably does not intend it, but there are a few things graver than something like emotional abuse.
Following is a list of signs that you should look out for, to recognize abuse if you are facing any.
1. Manipulation
Manipulation is one of the first signs of emotional abuse.
One of the most prominent examples of manipulation is gaslighting, where your partner makes you question if you are the one in the wrong and if you are the one that is abusing them.
They make you feel guilty for not doing things their way all the time and constantly undermining your feelings and emotions.
They resort to emotional outbursts to turn everything into something that they would benefit from.
They constantly manipulate you into doing things that they want, disregarding your feelings and needs, all of it while making you feel like you deserve being unhappy.
2. They feel entitled to your time
While it is completely normal to want your partner’s time and be prioritized, there is a limit to it.
If they make you feel like it is absolutely essential that they become the center of your world, it is emotional abuse.
Emotional abusers make you feel like they are the only thing that you must direct all your attention towards and that you deserve no time of your own, since there is nothing more important than their needs and wants.
They will put you in a spot and make you choose between other important people in your life and them, just to assert dominance and make sure you eventually cut everyone out and be completely devoted only to them.
They will invade your privacy and private time.
You will also like reading: 20 Warning Signs You’re In An Emotionally Abusive Relationship
3. They are too “passionate”
While I use the word passion, what emotional abusers tend to display is not passion but is more of obsession.
They are overly jealous and make everything out to be your fault.
For example, they will make you feel bad about yourself as a person if someone else shows interest in you and will have you believe that this is happening only because how much they love and cannot bear the thought of you being with anyone else.
They will kill your own persona and build you up to be the person that they want, not caring about what you are or are not comfortable with.
They will obsess about you and if you show any signs of discomfort, they will manipulate the entire situation into you blaming yourself for having boundaries and other such things.
4. They put you and people you love down
Emotional abusers will constantly put you down by passing backhanded negative comments about everything, starting from your looks to your morals.
They will constantly make you feel like you are not good enough to make sure you stay with them because you start believing that you are not worthy of love and can keep manipulating you for their own benefits.
They will also undermine people who love and support you to isolate you, so that nobody can help you when they constantly abuse you for their own convenience.
They will break you down, brick by brick, to make sure that they take everything they possibly can from you.
