Is Emotional Abuse Domestic Abuse? Types Of Violence And Their Mental Health Effects
- For those experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988
- For those experiencing abuse, please contact the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
- For those experiencing substance use, please contact SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
Domestic violence is a significant societal concern, impacting approximately 10 million people in the US each year. Abuse can manifest in several different ways, not all of which are easy to perceive. Understanding the various types of domestic violence may help increase awareness and prevention of abuse. Below, we’re providing an overview of domestic violence, discussing the various forms of abuse and how they can impact mental health, and outlining options for receiving help.
Understanding domestic violence
According to the United States Department of Justice, domestic violence involves “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, psychological, or technological actions or threats of actions or other patterns of coercive behavior.” While this often involves intimate partner violence, it can also include abuse between immediate family members, elder abuse, or harm within other close relationships.
Healthy, close relationships can be important sources of support, care, and joy, and such bonds are often built through shared openness and vulnerability. For these reasons, it can be especially confusing and challenging when such a relationship is used to manipulate and harm.
Domestic abuse can be physical, emotional, sexual, financial, and/or technological. The goal of the perpetrator is typically to exert control over an individual through intimidation, coercion, harassment, and other means. Domestic violence can lead to significant mental and physical health concerns, often including severe trauma. Abuse can impact an individual’s career, relationships, everyday functioning, and many other facets of life.
An estimated one in four women and one in nine men have survived domestic violence—and these numbers may actually be higher due to underreporting. Often, survivors of abuse avoid reporting the behavior due to fear of retaliation, shame, or concern about the responses of others (e.g., disbelief from law enforcement, negative reactions from family members). Domestic violence affects people of all backgrounds, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation.
Is emotional abuse domestic abuse? Types of domestic violence
Understanding how abuse can manifest may help explain how such actions can seriously impact an individual’s well-being. The following are descriptions of various types of abuse.
Physical abuse
Contact meant to harm, restrict, control, or threaten can be considered physical abuse. This form of domestic violence can encompass a wide variety of actions, including hitting, choking, restraining, biting, kicking, and shoving. Physical abuse can result in serious bodily harm, causing bruising, cuts, burns, broken bones, medical illness, and other challenges. It can also lead to serious mental health challenges.
Examples of physical abuse include a parent striking a child to punish them, an individual throwing an item at their partner in anger, or a person harmfully restricting the food intake or the finances of an elderly relative. There are many other ways this type of abuse can manifest, including through threats of physical violence.
Emotional abuse
Emotional abuse involves conduct that is intended to create confusion, fear, doubt, anger, sadness, or other negative feelings in another person. It may involve manipulation, threats, stalking, or isolation. While emotional abuse might not cause physical harm, it can still create serious challenges in an individual’s life. An emotionally abusive relationship can also lead to the abuser threatening physical harm, then acting violently.
A common form of emotional abuse is called gaslighting, a manipulation tactic that involves making someone doubt their reality through deception. Take, for example, a situation in which someone repeatedly makes threats to their partner. If the partner later brings up these threats, the individual might engage in gaslighting by responding, “I never said that,” “You’re always making things up,” or “That never happened; your memory is so bad.”
There are many other ways that emotional abuse may manifest. It could take the form of appeals to emotion (e.g., guilt-tripping), verbal abuse (e.g., constant criticism), or psychological abuse (e.g., isolation).
Sexual abuse
Sexual coercion, rape, sexual harrassment, threats, revenge pornography, and other unwanted sexual acts are all forms of sexual abuse. While individuals of any gender can experience sexual abuse, women are targeted at significantly higher rates. This form of domestic violence can lead to varied mental health challenges, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, and other serious concerns.
Research suggests that one in three women will experience sexual violence at some point. Studies also suggest that individuals in the LGBTQ+ community experience similar rates of sexual abuse to the general public.
Financial abuse
Also called economic abuse, financial abuse can involve things like limiting a person’s ability to use funds, hiding bank or credit card information, stealing money, preventing a person from working, or financial exploitation through manipulation. Limiting a person’s financial freedom is a way of controlling them, often so that the abuser can prevent them from leaving. Financial abuse can cause an individual to go into debt, experience career challenges, and lose assets like their car or home.
Technological abuse
Cyberbullying, cyberstalking, recording without consent, and identity theft are all potential forms of technological abuse. This form of domestic violence is becoming a greater concern as technological advances continue. For example, using artificial intelligence, individuals can now recreate the voices and likenesses of almost anyone, potentially using such tools to control or exploit people they know.
The mental health effects of abuse
Domestic abuse can lead to serious emotional, social, cognitive, and spiritual effects. Research suggests a connection between different types of abuse and higher levels of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health challenges. Additionally, some people cope with abuse through maladaptive means, such as drugs or alcohol, potentially leading to substance use disorder (previously called substance abuse disorder).
Domestic violence and children
Children who have experienced abuse may develop behavioral challenges, developmental delays, difficulty with social interaction, and academic concerns. Childhood abuse is also a risk factor for various personality disorders, such as narcissistic personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder. Often, children blame themselves for the abuse they experience, which can exacerbate mental health concerns and lead to low self-esteem, feelings of shame, and a distorted self-image.
Trauma-related mental health conditions
Some of the most common conditions connected to abuse are trauma-related disorders. These mental health disorders involve heightened emotional responses to traumatic experiences. Symptoms can include anxiety, flashbacks, avoidance, hypervigilance, and impaired cognitive functioning. Common trauma-related disorders include the following:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Acute stress disorder
- Reactive attachment disorder
- Adjustment disorders
- Disinhibited social engagement disorder
How to address physical abuse and other forms of violence
If you or someone you love is experiencing abuse, know that there are several steps you can take. First, it is important to note that abuse is never your fault, and that you do not deserve to be harmed by another person.
If you’re in an abusive relationship, talk to a trusted friend, family member, or healthcare provider. You can also reach out to a helpline, such as the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which can connect you with an expert who can help you plan next steps. In addition, the US Department of Justice has a list of national and state-specific resources that you can utilize. Hotlines and similar services can also help you report abuse to the appropriate authorities. You can also learn how to employ measures to prevent cyberstalking and other forms of technological abuse through Get Safe Online.
How therapy can help individuals in processing abuse
For those who have survived abuse, a therapist can be a source of emotional support and guidance. Therapy can be a safe space for those living with past trauma and related challenges to process their feelings and develop coping mechanisms for their mental health symptoms.
Various forms of therapy may be utilized to treat trauma, including eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). For example, EMDR may help individuals change their emotional responses to traumatic memories. Additionally, a therapist can treat any symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other challenges that may be caused by abuse.
Addressing traumatic experiences with online therapy
If you’re seeking care for trauma or related concerns, you may not feel comfortable discussing certain sensitive topics in person. Online therapy allows participants to engage in mental health treatment remotely, from the comfort of home.
The benefits of asking an online therapist, “Is emotional abuse domestic abuse?”
With an online therapy platform like BetterHelp, you can talk through trauma or other complex emotional responses with a licensed therapist remotely, which can be more comfortable for some people than doing so at an office. You’ll also have the option of messaging your therapist at any time outside of sessions, allowing you to clarify points made during therapy or ask questions about certain concepts, and they’ll respond as soon as they’re able.
The efficacy of online therapy
Studies indicate that online therapy may help individuals address mental health challenges related to traumatic events. For example, research from 2023 suggests that online therapy can often be as effective as in-person care for treating PTSD. Additionally, the analysis notes that online therapy platforms can improve the availability of care, which is often a concern due to barriers like geographical location, time constraints, and stigma.
Takeaway
What category does emotional abuse fall under?
Emotional abuse can fall under the category of relationship abuse. It can also be a form of non-physical domestic violence.
What is the definition of emotional abuse in domestic violence?
The American Psychological Association defines emotional abuse on its website. Their definition is: “a pattern of behavior in which one person deliberately and repeatedly subjects another to nonphysical acts that are detrimental to behavioral and affective functioning and overall mental well-being.”
What are the red flags of emotional abuse?
There are many possible red flags that could indicate emotional abuse. Some examples include the abusive partner forcing isolation from friends and family, forcing the target to do sexual activities they don't want to do, withholding information or withholding affection as a form of coercive control, limiting a person’s phone or internet usage to control them, and name-calling and insulting to gain power and degrade self-worth.
What type of trauma is emotional abuse?
Emotional abuse can be one form of emotional or psychological trauma. It can lead to a variety of negative mental health outcomes, from depression and self-harm to alcohol or drug use as an attempt to cope to trouble building healthy relationships in the future.
What is the triangle of emotional abuse?
DomesticShelters.org shares this definition of triangulation as a form of mental abuse. They state: “In this tactic, abusers manipulate their victim by communicating with a person outside of the relationship who is close to their partner—a friend or family member—and cause conflict through purposeful miscommunication.”
What can be a trigger on emotional abuse?
If someone has experienced emotional abuse in the past, any number of situations could trigger post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, if applicable, or otherwise cause strong emotional responses. It could be a sound or a smell, a place, or a certain way that someone phrases something that makes the person feel scared and like they’re back in that situation of immediate danger.
What does PTSD look like after emotional abuse?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop in a person after they've experienced emotional abuse. Common signs can include hypervigilance, re-experiencing symptoms, avoidance behaviors, and others.
How to heal from years of emotional abuse?
Healing from years of emotional abuse may also take years, but gradual progress can be expected over this time in many cases. To begin processing and healing from abuse, it's typically recommended that a person reach out for professional mental health support in the form of a therapist and/or a support group.
Who to talk to about emotional abuse?
Emotional abuse can affect anyone, regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds, education levels, gender, or age (including children, young people, and older adults). If you're looking for support in making an exit plan, contacting the National Domestic Violence Hotline can be a helpful next step. Meeting with the therapist to process and start healing from past trauma can also be helpful, as can seeking medical attention for injuries caused by any physical abuse (hair-pulling, shoving, burning, kicking, etc.) that may have also occurred.
What type of therapy is used for emotional abuse?
Trauma-informed therapy is usually used for a person who has experienced emotional abuse. This type of therapy can take many different forms, from cognitive behavioral therapy to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).
- Previous Article
- Next Article