I experienced anxiety, depression, headaches, and insomnia. When I’m in trauma mode I cannot sleep at all. It is so hard for me to fall asleep. And my brain just thinks and thinks and thinks and thinks and it’s really hard for me to shut it off.

– BTR.ORG Community Member

Many women in the BTR.ORG Community have experienced emotional abuse – and with emotional abuse, devastating emotional, physical, and mental symptoms.

Emotional Abuse Can Make You Feel Crazy

“All this anger and the guilt and the anxiety wasn’t me just going crazy, because that’s really what I thought. And I think when I’m in trauma a lot of times I get in that mindset of ‘oh my gosh, I’m crazy’. I am a psycho person and no one else is crazy like this!”

– BTR.ORG Community Member

The effects of emotional abuse can make victims feel crazy and alone. Often, it’s difficult to verbalize what exactly the emotional abuse feels like, how it’s happening, and how victims need help. It can be incredibly isolating because it’s so difficult to find the words to describe how it feels.

Victims Feel The Symptoms Of Emotional Abuse In Their Bodies

Many emotional abuse victims experience horrific physical symptoms including:

• Migraine headaches
• Insomnia
• Unexplained stomach discomfort
• Fatigue
• Joint pain
• Autoimmune diseases
• Neuropathy
• Chronic pelvic pain

While every experience is different, victims of abuse often report unexplained discomfort and pain in their bodies.

Emotional Abuse Can Affect The Mental Health of Victims

“I had some anxiety attacks… so I went on medication for those, and then just a bunch of different mental health problems.”

– BTR.ORG Community Member

Depression, anxiety, phobias, obsessive-compulsivity and other mental health issues are just some of the ways that emotional abuse can affect the mental health of victims. Many women in the BTR.ORG community report that they experience, or have experienced, panic or anxiety attacks related to the abuse.

Emotional abuse is not just abuse. It is as serious as physical battering, with long-lasting affects.

BTR.ORG Can Help Victims of Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse really is something that not only affects us mentally, but affects us physically as well. It affects me physically.

-Anonymous member of the Betrayal Trauma Recovery Community

Here at BTR.ORG, we take emotional abuse seriously. If you are being, or have been, emotionally abused, please know that you have found a safe place to share your experiences and to find help. Our BTR.ORG Group Sessions meet daily; attend a Group Session today.

Remember, you are not alone.