This emotional abuse test can help signal if you undergo an abusive relationship of any kind and also points out which are the signs of such psychological abuse. Read more on this subject below the form.

Disclaimer: Please note that this test is for informational and educational purposes only.

How does this emotional abuse test work?

This questionnaire is designed with the most common signs of emotional abuse in mind in other to prove useful to anyone who wants to assess whether they undergo an abusive relationship of any kind.

There are 22 questions divided in two sections at which you need to answer with yes or no and then you will be given an interpretation of your answers.

It is important to be reminded that this emotional abuse test is not a substitute for professional help and that in most cases, some form of therapy and counseling would be beneficial.

How to define emotional abuse?

This is a type of behavior that aims to control another person through the use of a series of assaults, varying from verbal, psychological to even physical, but in most cases it resorts to the creation of psychological tension. It can include constant criticism, intimidation or manipulation.

This basically attacks one person’s confidence and self worth through constant belittling than can be obvious or hidden through manipulation.

The three main patterns of emotional abuse are aggression, denial and minimization.

The first one is the most obvious or can be hidden in the shape of advice and includes verbal abuse, criticism and attempt to demean.

Denying is the tendency to distort another person’s beliefs while the abuser tries to change or refuses to accept real facts.

Minimizing is a derived form of denial that occurs when the abuser, whilst accepting the existence of a situation or fact, tries to minimize the impact or importance and belittles another person’s feelings or opinions on that matter.

Types of abusive relationships

Understanding the pattern of each type of relationship is essential in understanding the occurrence of such abuse.

There are many types of situation in which emotional abuse in its various shapes can occur, from love relationships, family relationships between parent- child or siblings to school or work place abuse.

Also people need to understand that they have basic rights in each type of relationship that they need to respect.

Domestic abuse is defined as chronic mistreatment in families and intimate relationships.

Child abuse is defined as the behavior that affects one child’s development and can be caused by either parents or care takers.

Workplace or school abuse or the so called bullying is frequent in many places and includes verbal abuse and other intimidation tactics.

Sexual harassment is the latest form of psychological abuse to be taken in consideration and can lead to serious alterations or perception and health impairment.

Possible consequences of psychological abuse

Emotional abuse can create serious psychological damage with deep scars that are hard to be approached later on even in time with therapy.

A constant criticism and minimizing can eventually lead to trust issues and low self esteem. The victims stop trusting their instincts and valuing their feelings while the abuser feels more and more in charge.

Sometimes, such behavior can lead to abuse being directed towards self and the victims start self attacking and stating to themselves things that have been induced by their abusers.

There are psyche changes that occur in these persons and long time abuse can seriously affect life quality. In some cases such abuse is subsequently followed by domestic physical or sexual abuse.

Child abuse impairs with the normal cognitive development and can lead to an adult that can either have difficulty forming relations and adapting to society norms but can even transform the victim into an adult emotional abuser.

Amongst other consequences there are the decreased work performance and ability to focus, trouble sleeping from insomnia to night terrors, difficulty in maintaining relationships, lack of confidence in others, eating disorders and depression, anxiety or panic attacks.

How to deal with emotional abuse

One of the first steps represents acknowledging that you are subject to such an abuse and recognizing the patterns of what you are experiencing.

You then need to consider counseling and having an open discussion on what you are feeling. You need to seek for help that can be personalized according to your needs.

Emotional abuse is often hard to prove and trying to keep a vendetta for an abuser can be frustrating so in most cases you are advised to distance yourself from that person or group.

These are toxic relationships that you need to separate from in order to build a fulfilling life. If this is not possible you need to set boundaries and stand by them with confidence and respect.

Do not tolerate any more offenses and don’t try to find reasons or excuses for them. Establish what kind of relationships you deserve to be in and what kind of people are healthy for you to interact with.

Resort to counseling to re-establish self confidence and build up emotional intelligence skills.

17 Dec, 2014