Hi Amy,
Emotional abuse can come in many forms. It can look like a lot of things, from blantant to very subtle and covert.
I've been accused of isolating DS12 from family members. Their story, experience and viewpoints are from within a different framework of fears, denial of family dysfunction, etc. My truth is having protected DS12 and myself from active addiction and family dysfunction.
Between SR, Al-Anon, DV help centers, etc. I started identifying what was healthy behavior, what was abuse and finding skills in stepping away from being a target. I continue to learn, pick up new skills and becoming stronger.
One of the techniques I like for dealing with past events is to meditate and allow myself to approach in my thoughts something that happened with the skills I have today.
Dandylion, thank you. Great description!
Emotional abuse is an attempt to control, in just the same way that physical abuse is an attempt to control another person. The only difference is that the emotional abuser does not use physical hitting, kicking, pinching, grabbing, pushing, or other physical forms of harm. Rather the perpetrator of emotional abuse uses emotion as his/her weapon of choice.