Can emotional abuse be as painful as physical abuse?

Answer 1

it can be worse. its with you for life. a bruise or broken bone will heal. self confidence takes many years to regain

Answer 2

It can actually be worse. My first marriage was very abusive and I was in therapy for a couple of years afterward to get past it. My therapist told me that emotional and mental abuse are often more difficult to treat than physical abuse because it's so hard for the victims to SEE the actual injury or damage. She said that with physical abuse, there is usually a bruise or a cut or a broken bone that tells the victim in no uncertain terms that they were abused and obviously they know who did it. It's very difficult for the mind to deny whereas with mental or emotional abuse, you can't see it so clearly but it goes a lot deeper than physical abuse.

Answer 3

I say no, only because physical abuse usually carries emotional abuse along with it. Emotional abuse in and of itself can be as damaging, if not more so, than physical abuse in and of itself. But, I don't think they are necessarily two separate things, especially when it comes to physical abuse. There is always an emotional element to being abused physically, but there isn't always a physical element to being abused emotionally.

Answer 4

Yes, sure....but I think it's mainly because emotional abuse *does* hurt physically and vice versa. The latter is one of those "well duh" things, I know....being attacked, beaten, molested is just plain horrifying and can leave people bitter, angry and scarred for life.

But I'm not sure folks quite get the former. Emotions are a by-product of what happens at the boundary between the nervous system and the rest of the body. So intense emotions arising from abuse *are* going to have physical effects.

Just one humble, mainstream example here: Hasn't anyone here felt sick to their stomach, or felt their stomach *hurt* after a particularly nasty rejection? Seriously, doctors have done studies with MRI and CT scans of the brain, showing that the same areas of the brain light up when you're suffering emotionally from *rejection*, and when your stomach actually hurts *physically* from hunger pains or nausea

Honest....I'm not making this up, search the site below for "MRI studies", "stomach pain" and "rejection":

http://www.sciam.com/

So really, the line between emotional abuse and physical abuse is *not* as clear as a lot of folks would think. Physical abuse is emotionally scarring, and emotional abuse does *actually hurt*. And in fact, a lot of the newer anti-depressants, like Cymbalta (duloxetine), are being formulated not just to deal with severe emotions, but also to deal with the physical pain those emotions can produce.

So yes, emotional abuse can be as painful as physical abuse, because emotional abuse *can* get physical.

I hope this helps, and thanks for your time.

Answer 5

You have to be kidding me!
Unless the physical abuse is permanent, emotional abuse is worse!

Answer 6

Absolutely

Answer 7

Absolutely. In fact, it can sometimes be MORE painful. Physical wounds heal. Emotional wounds generally don't completely.

Answer 8

Definitely.

Answer 9

Its worse, I would have taken a beating once a week over the crap I went though every day, no questions asked.

Answer 10

I would rather have body pain than brain pain.