Posted by sunny10 on July 28, 2005, at 8:47:46
In reply to Emotional Abuse *might trigger* (long), posted by fairywings on July 28, 2005, at 7:04:57
Getting better, developing stronger self-esteem, is a process.
Part of the process is accepting yourself. Part of that self was emotionally abused and probably responds to life's stimuli differently than someone who was not abused.
You need to accept the fact that maybe, just maybe, it is as bad or worse than physical or sexual abuse because society doesn't recognize emotional abuse (like you, even), so the suffering children will go on suffering through generations. People are not being punished for emotionally abusing others. They are not "sent to rehab", so to speak.
Part of you must be outraged. That those who were supposed to teach you to be the best person that you can be did not lead by example. That you now have to figure out HOW to be the best person you can be all by yourself. WORSE, you have to UNLEARN the types of responses that your parents taught you. Cringing, cowering, fear, feelings of worthlessness, et cetera. Those were what you were taught instead of self-confidence and a sense of being able to accomplish anything you set out to do.
So rage over it- allow yourself to do that much- then start relearning. If you didn't need to relearn life, you wouldn't be at babble...
-Sunny10
poster:sunny10
thread:534668
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/relate/20050724/msgs/534700.html