While I never suffered actual physical abuse, the verbal abuse at the hand of ABF was frightening as when he was drinking, he could switch at the drop of the hat from relatively rational to a tyrant, heaping abuse on me non stop.
Both forms of abuse are horrendous, each with its own set of consequences and when for the final time, I saw that the verbal had a good chance of turning into the physical-when in a drunken tirade (after I had told him it was over and he must leave ASAP) he threatened me and my dog, that was my line in the sand. That night was horrendous - police were involved - and it's still pretty fresh in my mind and will be for a long time to come.
Thank you so much for posting this, to educate me more on this topic and to remind me that abuse and substance abuse are pretty close in nature and deed.