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Is my behaviour a symptom of abuse? Masterlist
Outside symptoms
Offering comfort and compassion while never receiving or asking
Youâre hyper-independent and never ask for help
You downplay all the pain you felt thru your childhood
Youâre so scared of failure itâs difficult to start anything
You struggle to take credit for things you did
Youâve can sense other peopleâs emotions as if theyâre yours
You feel obliged to nurture, please and care for others
You struggle with chronic exhaustion and chronic pain
You donât complain because âothers have it worseâ
You have the ability to endure everything to prove youâre strong
Living your life in fiction and Magical thinking
You had/have experiences with self harm
Youâre scared to cut off toxic people from your life
Loud noises and figures of authority give you anxiety
Overtaking responsibility for everything
You feel compulsed to âact normalâ in every situation
You blame yourself for being stressed and procrastinating
You struggle with deep breathing, palpitations, overheating, dry mouth
Inside symptoms
Emotional symptoms of long term abuse
You have low self esteem and experience self-hatred
You feel that you need to be perfect, but others donât have to
You crave approval from others very intensely
Anxiety while doing mundane tasks (cooking, cleaning, going out)
You donât take happiness for granted, it scares you instead
You constantly feel pain and like âyou need to get it togetherâ
Youâre afraid to feel your own emotions, you need a permission
You wish you had a physical evidence of abuse so it would count
You feel overwhelming guilt for things that happened to you
Confusing gaps in memory
You have cptsd symptoms
You struggle with intrusive thoughts and images
Youâre always thinking âit wasnât that badâ
Youâre uncomfortable with being comforted
You feel as if you crave abuse
You have trauma symptoms from childhood abuse
You have a sense of foreshortened future
You believe a tougher life will make you stronger
You believe that everyone deserves compassion except you
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itâs time to shut down the lie that children who donât grow up being hit, humiliated, and scared into obedience will grow up into spoiled, entitled, selfish monsters. there is zero truth to that. children grown in a healthy and nurturing environment will get a chance to grow up healthy. children who are raised by monsters who try to pretend that abuse is for the childâs sake and that the child would become a monster if not abused will be stripped of their health and will be denied an actual start in life and will be forced to fight for survival. Iâve had enough of abusers pretending theyâre helping the child while theyâre just taking and taking more and more away from them and leaving them permanently traumatized and emotionally injured. Donât let them get away with it.
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Me, having a hard time : It can only get better, right?
Things : *get significantly worse*
Me : Wow.
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Dismantling the Lies of Abusive Parents Masterlist
Resources
Giving you food and clothing is the bare minimum
You donât owe gratitude for food and clothes you needed as a child
You had the right for basic resources
Parents shaming you for costing money is ironic and stupid
What it means when they say âThis is MY houseâ
My house = my rules is blackmail
Children donât owe absolute obedience for being fed and sheltered
Physical abuse
You are allowed to refuse any touch, not only violence
If they âdonât know theyâre hurting youâ, why do they ignore or punish you when you protest?
Hitting children is irrational and doesnât work
You cannot âprovokeâ your parents to abuse you if theyâre not abusive
Why do parents actually hit, manipulate and traumatize children
Blatant Lies
Care, nurture and affection do not make you weak
Theyâre lying when they say it âwasnât that badââ
You wouldnât have grown up spoiled if not for abuse
You got too affected by itâ is a lie
Your parents are not âjust too emotionally immatureâ to understand abuse
âYouâre not living in the real world!â is nonsense
Youâre not worthless, a burden, ungrateful, or stupid, and your parents know that.
Constant undermining of your accomplishments is abuse
Not being allowed to talk about the past is symptom of abuse
Parents who want you to be happy vs look happy
You are not abusive for resisting abuse
When they claim âthey didnât mean itâ, itâs still abuse
Your parents are responsible for their own actions regardless of how badly they try to shift blame on you
Psychological abuse
Blind Obedience is not required in a healthy upbringing
Disgust is a weapon abusive parents use on their kids
If they say they love you, but walk all over your feelings, they donâtÂ
Parents donât have the right to enter your room to scream at you
Parents insisting for you to be âtoughâ are doing it to hide the trauma
Even if a kid acts like âthey can take itâ, itâs still abuse
Pretending abuse is discipline will leave children permanently scarred
Itâs inhumane to control and shame childrenâs reactions to abuse
Why donât you already know this? vs Teaching you necessary skills
Acting like theyâll change is escape sabotage
Parents are responsible for protecting children from harm
References to how healthy parenting looks like
Not being allowed to be angry with your parents is psychological abuse
If parents want you to act way you did when you were little, theyâre dangerous
Threats about how hard your life will be later on, are bad for you
Lack of continuity and ever-changing rules will cause anxiety
Forced obedience will lead you to abusive relationships
Parents acting like youâre a âbadâ is a shame tactic to control you
Thereâs healthy and abusive ways to give children chores
Revisioning the past and insisting you remember it wrong is gaslighting
If your parents make you suicidal, theyâre abusive
Parents threatening âthey could be worseâ is abuse
Always assuming the worst intentions for your actions is wrong
Keeping children hostage in abuse is torture
If this hits home, also read Recognizing Abuse Masterlist
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Anger at the injustice/violation of your health/safety/wellbeing is a sign you are healing - you are starting to see the abuse from the perspective of an adult with compassion for a child, not just the scared/trapped child who had to idolize your abusers and sacrifice yourself because you depended on them to survive.
It doesnât really matter âwhyâ they did it, itâs time to stop focusing on them and focus on you. How did you feel? How do you feel now? You deserve a voice. You deserve validation. You deserve compassion. You deserve healing.
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What abusers believe.
If youâve ever had to deal with an abusive person in your life - like an abusive parent or partner - youâve probably wondered what made them treat you that way. If you understand why abuse is happening, the thinking goes, you might be able to figure out how to make it stop.Â
So why do abusers do what they do? Do they have anger issues? Drinking problems? Past trauma? Personality disorders? Do they just need to get in touch with their feelings and learn how to communicate better?
Nope.Â
Abusive behaviours come from abusive beliefs. Abusers - whether consciously or unconsciously - hold specific beliefs about relationships that drive their behaviour and allow them to justify the horrible things they do. Even if your abuser has never put their beliefs into words, youâll probably recognize a lot of these abusive beliefs:
You are responsible for my emotions. It is never my responsibility to reflect on my emotional reactions or learn better coping skills - itâs your responsibility to stop doing things that make me angry or upset.
I must act on my emotions. If I am angry, I am going to lash out. You have no right to criticize me for that, and itâs not my responsibility to learn to manage my  emotions - you have to stop making me lash out at you. Asking me not to act on my emotions is controlling and wrong.
You will always be responsible for my emotions. Even if the relationship ends, you will continue to be responsible for my emotions, and I will expect you to continue to prioritize my feelings.
If I have feelings about something, itâs my business. If something you do or think causes an emotional reaction in me, then I have a right to get involved or tell you what to do. My feelings must be the priority. You donât have the right to tell me that itâs none of my business.��
You must judge me on my intentions, not my actions. If I didnât mean to hurt you or scare you, then you donât have the right to be hurt or scared. No one has the right to try to hold me accountable unless I meant to hurt someone.
I get to decide what your intentions were. If you hurt me, you meant to hurt me. If you make me jealous, you meant to make me jealous. Nothing you do is ever accidental or unintended - everything you do is intentional and malicious, even if it was a response to something I did.
My feelings are genuine; your feelings are manipulation. If Iâm upset, my feelings are real and important. If you are upset, you have an ulterior motive - youâre just trying to be manipulative and get attention or sympathy for yourself.
You have freedoms because I allow you to. Every freedom you have in your life - like wearing what you want - itâs because I generously allow it. I expect you to be grateful to me for that. I have the right to take those freedoms away whenever I want, and I expect you to obey.
If you set boundaries with me, you are mistreating me. If you really loved me, you wouldnât set boundaries with me. You are doing this to intentionally hurt me, which means I donât have to respect those boundaries.
You holding me accountable for hurting you is worse than me hurting you. My pain at being called out is worse than your pain at being mistreated. If I feel bad about something I did, I have already been punished enough. You trying to discuss the issue or hold me accountable is just your way of abusing me.
If I apologized for something, you have to forgive me. If the relationship has ended, you have to reconcile with me. You donât get to ask for more time apart or more discussion of the issue - once Iâve apologized, the matter is closed for good.
The relationship is not over until I say it is over. So long as I want a relationship with you, you must have a relationship with me. Your feelings are irrelevant. Even if we have broken up, you must remain available to me so we can get back together in the future. Not wanting a relationship with me means you are mistreating me or being immature.Â
I am the authority in this relationship. I am smarter and more perceptive than you. I know what is best for both of us. My version of events is always the correct one. I have superior judgement, taste and opinions. If you question me or disagree with me after Iâve given you the correct answer, you are disrespecting and mistreating me, or you are simply immature and incapable of knowing whatâs good for you.
I have the right to control you. It is my absolute right to decide what you do and who you associate with. You have no right to disobey me. I am owed obedience and control; if you donât give me those things, you are wronging me and cheating me out of the relationship I deserve.Â
If you resist my control, I am allowed to do whatever I think is necessary to get it back. Once youâve resisted me, I am justified in whatever I do to regain control of you. I am not responsible for my actions when you resist my control; you forced me to do it, and itâs your own fault.Â
I should be your main focus. Everything else in your life comes secondary to me. When you make decisions, my feelings should be your first consideration. You are expected to make sacrifices for me and put me at the center of your life; I am not obligated to do the same for you.Â
If I spend money on you or do something for you, you are in debt to me. You spending money on me or doing things for me does not erase your debt to me, and I am never in debt to you. You are indebted to me for as long as I decide. I may decide that your belongings and earnings also belong to me, since I allow you to have them. I may also decide at any time that you owe me for gifts I gave you, even if they were meant to be gifts.
I am not abusive, and you are not allowed to tell me otherwise. I know what abuse is, and real abusers are significantly worse than me. If our relationship has ever had any good times or positive moments, it canât possibly be abusive. If you accuse me of being abusive, you are the one abusing me, or you have been led astray by bad influences.Â
Relationships should be effortless (for me). I am owed a relationship that is peaceful and requires no real effort from me. It is your job to make sure we have that kind of relationship. If there is any tension or conflict in the relationship, it is your fault, and you are depriving me of the relationship I deserve to have.Â
Abusers and victims alike often buy into the narrative that abuse is rooted in anger issues - after all, abusers are frequently angry, and anger is an issue that can be treated. But this narrative just isnât true. Abusers arenât abusive because they are angry. Abusers are angry because they are abusive.Â
A non-abusive partner is not someone who has learned how to control their rage whenever you spend time with your friends or get home 15 minutes late from work. A non-abusive partner just doesnât feel any rage in those situations. An abuserâs rage is firmly rooted in their beliefs about relationships - they feel entitled to a relationship that meets their impossible expectations, and when they inevitably donât get it, they bubble over with fury. Whether they know it or not, they have firmly entrenched beliefs about how relationships should be, and those beliefs are at the heart of their abuse.Â
Can abusers stop believing these things? Maybe. If they can acknowledge that they have these beliefs, accept that these beliefs are dangerous and unreasonable and let go of these beliefs, maybe itâs possible for them to no longer be abusive in the future. Maybe. But itâs not your job to hang around and find out. If youâre in an abusive relationship of any kind, you deserve better. There are many people in this world who donât hold abusive views of relationships, and you deserve to find happiness with them.Â
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If a child is so afraid of getting in trouble that they don't come to their parents when they make a mistake that could possibly put their health or even their life in danger, then those parents have failed.
If something goes wrong, and the first thing that child thinks is, "oh god, my parents are gonna kill me," then the parents have failed.
If a child is afraid of their parents, if the child sees their parents as an active threat instead of a source of safety and guidance, then the parents have failed.
A parents job is to protect, to teach, to guide.
If a parent makes themself a danger to the child, in any capacity, then that parent has failed.
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You have done your part in trying to understand your parents. You did consider where they were coming from and why they were doing this, and it didnât help. Youâve done enough trying to forgive them. Youâve made yourself and your feelings irrelevant far too many times already. Youâve asked yourself âwhy donât they love meâ far too many times. Youâve cried enough because of them. You tried to deserve their love for far too long. You walked with your heart broken and chest empty far too many times. Youâve done enough. Itâs been enough. You walk free of this with no obligation or shame on your part. Youâve done everything you could. Youâve given them every possible chance to stay in your life. Youâve allowed them lead you on, with fear and hope in your heart, for far too many times. You donât have to do it ever again.
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Most people only care about the unfairness of the world when itâs unfair towards them. When the unfairness works in their favour theyâre happy to be complacent.
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Every time I think Iâm getting better I start to spiral again. And as much as my friends say they love and care and want to be there for me there are small instances/interactions that occur proving that they in fact canât or do not have the capacity to. I feel so alone and tired. God Iâm tired. I really did the whole staying alive out of spite shit. This is exhausting. To what end?
They have cost me so much. I will never get it back. Never. Not in the same way. Maybe not in time.Plans change. Timelines shift. I get that. But this??! Itâs too much.
I just want some help. Not the cold institutional kind.
The âI get itâ
The âyou get some rest, Iâll take overâ
The âyouâre not selfish for wanting to save yourselfâ
The âI really donât need you to prove anything to meâ
The âIâm sorry I didnât recognise the signs, but Iâm here now and Iâm willing to put in the work tooâ
The âlove and joy shouldnât be at the cost of your tolerance/peaceâ
That type of help.
The help I often give out so freely.
Fuck Iâm tired.
I really just wanna go.
I hope i have the strength to stay again.
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