Recognize Abuse
Question: What is Abuse?
Webster’s Dictionary meaning is as follows:
- “to use wrongly or improperly; misuse; to treat in a harmful, injurious or offensive way; to speak insultingly, harshly, or unjustly to or about; revile; malign; to deceive or mislead; harshly or coarsely insulting language; bad or improper treatment; maltreatment; a corrupt or improper practice or custom.”
Abuse is perpetrated verbally, physically and/or emotionally; and most, if not all human-beings have been victims of or subjected to some type of abuse; and some, if not most human-beings have abusive in some capacity to another person or animal. Any form of abuse is wrong, unacceptable, and destructive with the end result being deep-rooted emotional damage–damage that can last a life-time.
An abused individual sometimes become an abuser due to having been subjected to some form of abuse, particularly during their childhood. Abused individuals sometimes gravitate towards and remain in abusive relationships because abuse has been such a predominant doctrine in their lives that they consider it to be normal. There are also instances that individuals don’t know when they are being abused because of the abusive indoctrination and manifestation that has occurred over the span of their lives.
How do we know when we are being abused?
Physical abuse is the most obvious of all forms of abuse–its affect is immediate. Verbal abuse is carried out with the use of cruels words and statements, causing intolerable emotional pain. Emotional abuse is caused via harsh treatment, cruel statements, and physical abuse–it is the end result of all forms of abuse. The “Limbic System” of our brains sets off responses/reactions such as anger, fear, extreme nervousness, confusion, hopelessness, and in some instances, a emotional breakdowns uncontrolable crying and/or a mental collapse. “Information going through the brain’s Limbic System is filed under ’agreeable’ or ’disagreeable’,” which causes reactions. There are those of us who instantly become physically ill. If you experience any of these emotional responses/reactions during or after a verbal attack, physical altercation, or emotional assault, you have in fact been abused.
How do we know when we are an abuser?
The answer is simple: When an individual inflicts upon another person any or several aspects of the meaning of abuse, that individual is in fact an abuser.
How do we break the cycle of abuse?
If you are the abused, acknowledge you are being or have been abused; immediately vacate the abusive circumstances; seek counseling if necessary; and stay away from the abuser. If you are the abuser, acknowledge the fact that you are an abuser, and seek counseling for assistance with identifying what triggers your abusive behavior.