You Tell Me? Which is worse?

Question

Ok. I have been taught that emotional abuse is worse than physical abuse in some cases--depending on the level of abuse and the age of the victim, etc.
I believe that emotional abuse is worse in the long run, because in some instances the physical abuse it what it takes to validate the fact that a person is being emotionally abused.
Otherwise the victim may not realize or believe with certainty that they indeed are being abused.
What do you think????

Excellent answers!! Thanks to everyone! :)

Answer 1

They are equal. If your parent, husband, or anyone else close to you physically or emotionally hurts you, what you feel is the sting of someone who you are supposed to trust, who has broken that trust. That is where the pain comes from, not the actual action or words said. Both physical and emotional abuse do this.

Answer 2

Which is worse, emotional abuse or physical abuse?

Superbooks ANSWERS:

When someone is emotionally abused that person can be totally controlled by the abuser -in the future , without that abuser ever putting a hand on the victim. So, it's worse in this respect. The abuser can have this victim so terrified just by speaking to the victim or just by verbally threatening the victim so that the victim turns into being a zombie-like person living in fear for the rest of his/her life.

Once the person is controlled by the abuser, the police and the doctors cannot help the person who is being emotionally or verbally abused because there are no 'scars', there's no blood and mostly there is no evidence of the abuse -other than the victims word.

So , when there is physical abuse, there is great evidence. There might be broken bones, or fractures or blood, and sometimes there are even pictures of the abuse. So in this case the victim can get help from society and from the police because this victim is usually more 'believed' than a victim who is being controlled by emotional or verbal abuse.

The batterers who control their victims with words rather than controlling them with punches and slaps and blows, these batterers are sometimes the most dangerous kinds of batterers. They can go for years without being challenged, and years without being arrested and then one day, they 'snap' and go crazy and their victim is most vulnerable and everyone is caught off-guard.

Yes, emotional abuse is more dangerous than phsysical abuse because the emotional and verbal abuser gets away with everything, and the victim usually is most helpless and most vulnerable.

Broken bones and fractures will eventually heal and sometimes these injuries are healed before the year is up. But someone who is controlled by emotional abuse and threats, that person will be looking over their shoulder sometimes for the rest of their lives.

Emotional abuse, verbal abuse and sexual abuse takes years and years of therapy, and talking and counseling to heal .

All of our physical ailments usualy heal quickly,

Yes, the most dangerous kind of abuse is emotional abuse.

Answer 3

I have to agree--physical abuse IS emotional abuse. You can't get hit time and time again and not get emotional scars from it. So I think the two go hand in hand. But having been sexually molested (repeatedly for years), I believe it's the emotional abuse half of the equation that leaves the toughest scars. 27 years later I'm still struggling with some of it. I can't forget. It's everything I do and everything that I am and has shaped my entire sexuality. Broken bones heal. It's the scars on the inside that never will.

Answer 4

I agree emotional abuse is worse and before physical abuse....victims will for years suffer ridicule and belittling and not seek a way out, then as the aggressor become more angry and powerful the physical abuse happens at that point the victim is emotionally a wreck and must struggle to get out

Answer 5

Emotional scars are harder to heal. Just imagine if someone tells you all the time that you are worthless, Or that you were never wanted or loved. Unfortunately, those scars stay with you longer than bruises. At the same time, I think that both physical and emotional abuse go hand in hand. If you are being emotianally abused, you are more likely to be physically abused. That is only my opinion though.

Answer 6

Although both are abhorrent...emotional abuse is more insidious...no one can see your scars, they don't know what you went through unless they have experienced it, and the victim usually doesn't understand the effect on them until many years later. On the other hand, you can die an instant death from physical abuse...and it leaves emotional scars also...so I guess it is a toss up.

Answer 7

When I was younger I never had a dominant male role model and my mom use to say she wish I had never been born. (rape baby) For a long time I looked for someone to love me and not hurt me. Which has gotten a lot of guys lucky. All I wanted was love and due to the fact of what i went through as a child made me more susceptible to later on abuse. In when i was younger I used to get hit in the head lot by my mom and use to do a lot of ducking when people raise their hand to me. I grew out of it but I don't think i can ever grow out of wanting to fill the void of never having a father figure around.

Answer 8

Physical abuse is emotional abuse, as well. It's a double wammie. Still, abuse is always horrendous.

Answer 9

Its hard to differentiate between the two. I went through both. The physical scars have healed, but the emotional hurt is there FOREVER!

Answer 10

well if after the physical abuse your dead then i think it is worst but i won't down play emotional abuse as irrelevant if you need to get out go