Psychological abuse or emotional abuse is a form of abuse characterised by a person subjecting or exposing another to behaviour that is psychologically harmful.

Psychological abuse is the wilful infliction of mental or emotional anguish by threat, humiliation, or other verbal or non-verbal conduct. It is often associated with situations of power imbalance, such perhaps as the situations of abusive relationships and child abuse; however, it can also take place on larger scales, such as Group psychological abuse, racial oppression and bigotry. A more "mild" case might be that of workplace abuse. Workplace abuse is a large cause of workplace-related stress, which in turn is a strong cause of illness, both physical and mental.

When a child is emotionally abused, some may not even recognize it, and make it seem like everyday behaviour when, in fact, it can have serious long term effects on the child at hand. Emotional abuse may also entail the abuser minimizing, or "downplaying" the severity of abuse along with the act of invalidation. Invalidation is to reject, ignore, mock, tease, judge, or diminish someone's feelings. It is an attempt to control how they feel and for how long they feel it.

Psychotherapy and psychiatric methods can help some people overcome the negative effects of abuse, given time and a safe, healing environment.

See also

• Harassment

Footnotes