Just because someone doesn’t physically hurt you it doesn’t mean they are not abusive. Words and behaviours can hurt you just as much and coping with psychological and emotional abuse is extremely difficult.
So what does it mean?
Emotional abuse
If someone deliberately sets out to make you feel bad about yourself, to frighten you or to make you feel upset this is called emotional abuse.
Even though there is no physical abuse, attacks on your personality, your looks or the choices you make can be just as damaging.
Psychological abuse
Psychological abuse is also often referred to as coercive control. This means that someone uses controlling behaviour to make you do things or to stop you from making your own choices.
Forms of coercive control include stopping you from going out, telling you what to wear, stopping you from seeing friends and family and isolating you.
What can I do?
Abusers will often say that no one will believe you as there are no physical signs of abuse. This is not true, if you need help to break away from the person abusing you we will support you. You will be taken seriously and we can work with you to find the best way forward together.
If you are unsure about what to do or if you simply need someone to talk to, we are here to help and you can talk to us in confidence.
If you would like to you can meet with one of our friendly staff in person or you could take part in activities with other young people who have had similar experiences to you.
We will support you in whatever way suits you best. We are here to help you get back on your feet so please get in touch.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t told anyone about your experience before or if it happened a long time ago. You can find out more about the support we offer on our ‘What we do’ page.
All of our services are free and confidential
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