emotional abuse

Do We Have To Be Honest With Children?

by Deb Hirschhorn | Apr 11, 2016 | Parenting

My school-age grandson was filled with the importance of the story he was telling me. He paused as someone flew a paper airplane over our heads and their mother had to put a stop to that. She made a remark; I made another one back, and before you knew it, my...

How To Stop Being Angry

by Deb Hirschhorn | Mar 14, 2016 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse

“I am not getting angry over nothing!” Mordy said to Jeff just a bit too heatedly. He really felt defensive and he wondered how he ever allowed himself to confide in his closest friend that he and his wife were having problems. The fact that Jeff didn’t...

How to Counteract Mental Abuse: A Case Study

by Deb Hirschhorn | Dec 24, 2015 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse

Here is the story of Laurie and Nate. [NOTE: I’m sure you realize that I do not use real people’s stories here. I know you’ve seen on TV and online all sorts of horrible “true life” stories, some even by therapists. This is unethical....

Playing Victim Is Emotional Abuse

by Deb Hirschhorn | Mar 18, 2013 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse

There are people who don’t allow the feeling of compassion in. That may seem amazing to you: If someone else said they are hurt, how can you not feel badly about it? The answer is that they come from worlds away where tears don’t stir emotions; they are hardened –...

What To Do If You Are Being Gaslighted

by Deb Hirschhorn | Jun 1, 2012 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse

In the previous post, Small Lies Are Emotional Abuse, I described the devastation to the psyche when someone twists around who you think you are. It is emotional abuse; it is mental abuse, and the fact that the process is subtle makes it more, not less, devastating....

Small Lies Are Emotional Abuse

by Deb Hirschhorn | May 14, 2012 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse

There’s a subtle type of emotional abuse that it could take you years to uncover: Taking the truth and twisting it around. It’s not a bold-faced lie. It’s a little lie, a subtle and surprising twist — and that’s why it shakes the ground under...

Stonewalling–Is That A Man Thing?

by Deb Hirschhorn | Jan 4, 2012 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse

It is normal to be upset when upsetting things occur. “Normal” doesn’t mean good or healthy, just what is expected under the circumstance. So, for example, someone, let’s call her Caroline, might scream because her husband had been attacking her relentlessly,...

Normal Reactions To False Accusations

by Deb Hirschhorn | Dec 27, 2011 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse

This poor woman sat in my office weeping; she thought she was going crazy. We’ll call her Caroline. Here’s what happened: Her husband, we’ll call him Phil, decided that she was having an affair. She insisted she wasn’t, but he refused to believe her. Attacking a...

Verbal Abuse Scale From 8 to 10

by Deb Hirschhorn | Dec 23, 2011 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse

Part 3 of the Scale of Verbal Abuse (the...