Red Flags of Emotional Abuse

Oct 18

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One of the common questions about emotional abuse is what does it actually look like and how can you spot it? It’s a very fair question because non physical abuse is much more difficult to recognize, especially in our own relationships. A common thread are repeated actions that wear on your self confidence or change your course of action to avoid conflict. Let's take a look together at some of the biggest red flags of emotional abuse.

Gaslighting
The term gaslighting has made a big impact on the national stage recently and for good reason. It’s one of the most common manipulation strategies found in abusive relationships. Gaslighting is when someone denies your feelings or the true course of events to cause doubt in yourself, your actions or your memory of events.
Unrealistic Expectations
Setting unrealistic goals then shaming or belittling you when you are unable to achieve these expectations is a major red flag of abuse. This can also add additional stress when trying to achieve these expectations because a victim may want to try to do the impossible in order to avoid previous conflict.
Guilt Trips
Guilt is a very common form of manipulation. In abusive relationships guilt trips can be used to change the decisions of others for a person’s own benefit. This can occur as a one-off case or gradually over longer term situations. These actions can also wear on your self confidence and make you second guess your own choices.
Insulting/ Belittling
This is where emotional abuse can cross over into verbal abuse. However insulting and belittling can also be passive aggressive actions. This is where a person consistently speaks negatively about you or dismisses your appearance, accomplishments or interests.
Dismissiveness
Dismissiveness can be directed at a number of things. This could be not acknowledging your feelings, accomplishments or even your presence. These actions are intended to reduce your self esteem or make you try harder to receive their validation.