EMOTIONAL AND VERBAL ABUSE WITHIN MARRIAGE

How do you deal with a situation in marriage, where you’re being verbally and emotionally abused? And how do you even know this is what’s happening in your marriage —that it isn’t “just” a matter of one spouse disagreeing with the other and persistently trying to make him or her see things differently?

One thing we try to do here at Marriage Missions is to persevere in hunting for whatever information we can find that will best help you to understand the different aspects of marriage that you are dealing with. This way you can approach each marital situation prayerfully and carefully, and well educated, led by our Wonderful Counselor, the Holy Spirit, to do what He shows you is best.

With that in mind, we want to first deal with the topic of emotional abuse —what is it and what can be done. And then we’ll go on to the topic of verbal abuse, although they often overlap in how they are carried out.

We encourage you to pray before reading what we’ll put before you that the eyes of your heart and mind will be open to see and comprehend what God wants for you to know.

“Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore He instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them His way.”
(Psalm 25:8-9)

Dr Barbara Shaffer asks the questions:


“Can you identify a symptom of emotional abuse? More importantly can you define emotional abuse or identify any of its forms?”

To obtain some answers, please click onto the link below to read the Christian-Counseling-online.com article:

• CAN YOU IDENTIFY A SYMPTOM OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE?

Author Mary Yerkes describes Emotional Abuse this way:


“Emotional abuse leaves few physical scars. Its victims suffer no broken bones, torn flesh or spilled blood. Still, those wounded might describe it as the most painful and destructive form of domestic violence.”

To discover what Mary lived through and learned about verbal abuse, we direct you something posted on the web site of Focus on the Family. After reading the initial article, please read the additional articles they suggest in the series so you’ll understand a fuller picture of this type of abuse. To do so, please click onto the article below to read:

• UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Dr Barbara Shaffer writes the following concerning emotional abuse:


“Abuse in the context of an intimate relationship involves a persistent pattern of behaviors. It is not simply a mistake, an isolated incident or a sudden loss of control.”

That’s what we’ve seen in this type of abuse —there is a pattern, a trail of persistence in this type of behavior, which distinguishes it apart from one spouse “just” trying to get the other to better understand the point he or she is trying to get across as they are disagreeing over a matter.

To learn more of what Dr Shaffer explains in the article posted at the More Than Copingweb site, please click onto the link below to read:

• EMOTIONAL ABUSE: The Abuse Beneath the Abuse

Sadly,


“Almost everyone has heard of, or knows of, someone who has been verbally abused. Perhaps you are involved in a verbally abusive relationship. It is also possible that no one even knows your circumstances. Verbal abuse is a kind of battering which doesn’t leave evidence comparable to the bruises of physical battering. You (or your friend) may be suffering in silence and isolation. In this article, I want to tackle this very important issue in an effort to understand this phenomenon and provide answers.”

To learn what Kerby Anderson goes on to explain, please click onto the Probe Ministries link to read:

• VERBAL ABUSE


“Harsh words can destroy your marriage. Here’s how to defuse verbal abuse.”

To find out what you can learn from the Marriage Partnership article written by Dr Gary Chapman, please click onto the link below to read:

• POISONOUS PUTDOWNS

The ministry of All About Life Challenges, approaches this subject by helping you to better recognize verbal abuse, avoid depression and find hope — which is so important when you feel verbally beaten up. To learn more, please click onto the following link to read:

• VERBAL ABUSE — FIND HOPE

“Guard my life and rescue me:
let me not be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.

“May integrity and uprightness
protect me,
because my hope is in you.”
(Psalm 25:20-21)

This article was compiled by Cindy Wright of Marriage Missions International.

If you have additional tips you can share to help others in this area of marriage, or you want to share requests for prayer and/or ask others for advice, please “Join the Discussion” by adding your comments below. See related articles on: abusive anger, emotional wrestling match, Explosive anger, managing anger,verbal abusiveness