How An Unhealthy Relationship Can Affect Your Mental Health

Mental HealthMarch 6, 2019

Among all the damaging things that can happen to a person, an abusive relationship can be among the worst. It’s extremely important that children be taught how to spot an abusive relationship early on because it’s highly likely that their first relationship turns out to be out of order. Young adults have no idea what to expect from their first relationship, and if they happen to start dating the wrong person, they have no idea what sort of red flags they’re supposed to watch out for. As a parent or elder sibling, you should make sure that your child or younger sibling isn’t dating the sort of person who’d make their life miserable. There has been a lot of awareness regarding abusive relationships and the harmful effects that they can have, along with how to spot them.

Here’s why it’s important to break away from a partner who’s not good for you in the long run because staying in an abusive, one-sided relationship can have long-lasting effects on a person:

Emotional Instability

Abusive people are generally experienced at gaslighting their partners and making them feel like they’re the reason why things tend to go wrong and why they, the abusers, are always disapproving and in a bad mood. The victims often fall for this trap which starts to deteriorate their self-esteem and morale. As time goes on, abusers escalate the effect that they’re having on their victims. The victim will start feeling as though they’re not fit for social interactions and aren’t worth anyone’s time, and abusers will make sure that their victim is cut off from the rest of the world so that their impact on their victim is maximized.

People who were otherwise happy and outgoing in the past might see their behavior and feelings change for the worse. They might start feeling hopeless, and the abusers constant gaslighting will make them start to question their own abilities and even sanity. They might also feel dread and fear when they have to deal with their abusive partners, which can be coupled with a sense of relief when their partner leaves the room. They’re likely to feel shame which will be a direct result of verbal abuse from their partner, reminding them that they aren’t fit for a relationship and that they should be grateful to be in a relationship at all. Demeaning and belittling are some staple methods by which abusers attain dominance and control over their victims to ensure that they don’t leave them. These circumstances can even lead to their victims to have pain in their body and to have nightmares.

Long-Term Abuse Is Much Worse

Various studies have shown that victims show similar effects of extreme emotional abuse as physical abuse. Emotional abuse that carries on for a long while can be difficult to reverse and must be avoided at all costs. Although this isn’t always the case, long-term emotional abuse can even lead victims to face PTSD due to the agony that they’ve faced in their past. However, the more common long-term effects of emotional abuse are anxiety and chronic pain which are, of course, expected due to the emotional strain and constant state of anxiety and stress that they’re put under by their abusers.

Guilt and loneliness are also common due to victims being under the abuser’s influence. Nothing positive comes out of this kind of relationship and may only be detrimental to one’s mental health. Since abusers keep their victims isolated, it’s usual for victims to feel lonely after severe emotional abuse. Emotional abuse also has a huge impact on the children in the household where an emotionally abusive relationship is going on, and it’s imperative that they’re kept away from such an environment. There are plenty of shelters for people who’ve suffered from such a relationship in the past where they can receive help.

If you’ve been facing emotional abuse, make sure that you speak out to someone that you can trust. It doesn’t have to be your family members – you can even reach out to a therapist who can guide you on what you need to do further. Emotional abuse can be scarring and must be dealt with immediately.