Recognise emotional abuse and stop it

[MAITRI]

Pooja Bedi,Mar 13, 2011, 12.00am IST

It is commonly assumed that if you're not being physically abused by
your partner, then you're not a victim of violence.

But that is not necessarily true. There is something far more
insidious in relationships that many victims aren't even aware of.
Emotional abuse! It is as damaging as physical abuse, though it is
often harder to recognise, and therefore confront.

Does your partner frequently criticise you, undermine your self
esteem, and humiliate you? Do you hold back expressing yourself
fearing ridicule or being yelled at for doing so? Have you been
isolated from your family and friends and is your partner controlling
of your life, work and money? Do you feel powerless, fearful and
dependent in your relationship? Has your relationship eroded your
sense of self, your self-esteem and your happiness? Do you perpetually
get blamed for all that goes wrong? For e.g.; his drinking is caused
by your nagging, you not doing things his way is the reason for his
anger outbursts, his infidelity was because you put on weight and
became unsexy. Emotional abusers are great at self deception and
projecting blame onto their partners for their abusive actions and
almost always make continual declarations of "changing" and "how much
they love the partner" to keep victim partners firmly in their grip.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-13/man-woman/28685741_1_emotional-abuse-partner-relationships