Examples of Emotional Abuse by Parents
Emotional abuse by parents often develops through repeated emotional patterns rather than obvious incidents.
Because emotional abuse does not leave visible marks, many survivors struggle to identify it while it is happening.
Examples of emotional abuse can help clarify behaviors that create emotional harm, instability, and long-term emotional effects.
Understanding these examples helps survivors recognize patterns that may have shaped their emotional development.
Emotional Invalidation
A parent dismisses or minimizes the child’s emotions.
They may tell the child they are too sensitive, overreacting, or remembering events incorrectly.
This teaches the child that their emotional experience is unreliable.
Over time, this weakens self-trust.
Emotional Withdrawal
A parent withdraws emotional connection when the child expresses emotional needs or independence.
They may become silent, distant, or emotionally cold.
This creates emotional instability and teaches the child that emotional connection is conditional.
Guilt-Based Emotional Control
The parent creates guilt to influence the child’s behavior.
The child may feel responsible for the parent’s emotional wellbeing.
They may feel guilty asserting independence or setting boundaries.
This emotional conditioning can persist into adulthood.
Emotional Parentification
The child becomes responsible for supporting the parent emotionally.
They may comfort the parent, listen to adult problems, or feel responsible for maintaining emotional stability.
This disrupts emotional development.
Undermining Emotional Confidence
The parent questions the child’s perceptions, decisions, or emotional experiences.
This creates self-doubt.
The child learns to rely on external validation rather than internal emotional awareness.
Emotional Manipulation
The parent uses emotional responses to influence the child’s behavior.
They may express emotional distress, disappointment, or withdrawal to maintain emotional control.
This creates emotional dependence.
Long-Term Effects of Emotional Abuse
These emotional patterns can lead to long-term emotional effects.
Survivors may experience:
Self-doubt
Persistent guilt
Difficulty trusting themselves
Difficulty setting boundaries
Emotional suppression
These patterns reflect emotional adaptations developed during childhood.
Recognition Helps Survivors Understand Their Emotional Experience
Recognizing examples of emotional abuse helps survivors understand emotional patterns that originated in childhood.
This awareness helps restore emotional clarity and emotional independence.
Host
Hi, I'm Brandon Chadwick!
In 2019, I began interviewing survivors of narcissistic and domestic abuse on my podcast, Narcissist Apocalypse. In that time, I've published over 120 survivor stories, interviewed countless experts in the field, from therapists, to lawyers, to domestic violence advocates and agencies.
My philosophy for the podcast was to be different, and to me, that meant to be real, not clinical. My goal was to help survivors tell/validate their own stories, but to also validate and teach other survivors through those stories. And a crazy thing happened, it worked.
Narcissist Apocalypse has grown beyond my wildest dreams. It now reaches upwards of 10,000 listeners an episode and it keeps growing every day. If you read the reviews on Apple Podcasts, you can see just how much of an impact the show has made in the lives of our community members. Yes, we are now a community.
Narcissist Apocalypse has evolved into something bigger. We've taken the philosophy of the podcast and have extended it to power our support groups. Narcissist Apocalypse isn't just me anymore. We are now a community. And that community is here to support you at every step of your healing process and beyond.
Being part of your lives and watching people grow in our support groups has been quite an honor. So I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for listening. And a big thank you for helping everyone feel less alone. Welcome to our community.
With Much Love,
Brandon Chadwick
