How do you know if you're in an emotionally abusive relationship and not just sensitive?

Whenever you are feeling that your partner is putting you down, making you feel as if you are worthless and you would never ever succeed in life. If you are just being sensitive, you would share the feelings with your partner and your partner would make you feel comfortable. If you are feeling scared or uncomfortable in your current relationship, be sure to talk out to your partner. I've been through an emotional abusive relationship for almost two years. Don't hesitate to leave your partner if you feel that your relationship is making you feel worthless.

It is easy trust your gut feelings. Emotional abuse comes in all kind of forms and I don't know your story so I cannot comment. But in general if your partner: 1) Doesn't respect you. 2) Doesn't care about your feelings or well beings. 3) Scream at you if you disagree or if you criticise a behaviour which you think is in appropriate. 4) Doesn't respect you own space and personal boundaries. 5) Beat you up emotionally. 6) The conversation only goes one way. 7) You feel bad about your self in the relationship. 8) Makes you feel that you are not good enough. 9) Doesn't support you emotionally. 10) You feel alone in the relationship. 11) Punishes you mentally. 12) Ghost you. 13) Give you the silent treatment. Believe me the list goes on. You need to understand the motives behind this person because sometimes people behave the exact opposite of how they feel in relationship. You have to be mindful and look at your relationship without emotions and try to understand the person. So many things can be fixed only by understanding the other person. I hope this helped and good luck!

When your partner makes you feel guilty of blames you for their insecurities. They will make you feel as if you don't care about them enough. Instead of coping or talking about how they feel, they will resort to anger; calling you names, accusing you of cheating on them, or that you don't deserve their love. They will belittle you until you don't have confidence to love yourself anymore. You will feel isolated from caring friends and family because your partner made you feel as if they should be feared. Your partner will make you feel only he or she understands you and no one else.

There are resources and self-help guides out there that can help you understand what abuse may look like in relationships and understanding the wheel of power and control. We may have heard from one source or another what a physically abusive relationship can look like but understanding what an emotionally abusive relationship looks like can be trickier. Emotionally abusive relationships, from my experience, are ones based around control. A partner may use different tactics like financial control, coercion, verbal threats, demands, isolation, and emotional put-downs and gaslighting to manipulate their partner. Usually, when you feel scared to be yourself or ask for help is a good indicator of an emotionally abusive relationship. No one should make you feel unsafe in your own home, body, mind, or feelings. Hope that helps starting to understand what it may look like.

This is a pretty difficult question to answer. You are speculating whether or not the nature of your relationship is abusive or if your feelings just get easily hurt. To explore your ideas you can ask yourself what you expect from relationships and where your boundaries lie. To get a better idea of what you view as being sensitive or emotionally abusive you may want to reflect on past relationships you have had or reflect on whether this is your first relationship. What is your idea of emotional abuse and what is your idea of being sensitive? If you feel bad whilst being in that relationship you may feel you want to get out but feel obliged to stay due to the danger your significant other poses. Those not in your position may say a relationship is not worth it if you’re sad all the time and thinking about if you’re the one whose wrong or not. Of course it’s easier to give advice and tell a friend or someone you care about to get out of an unhealthy relationship. Getting out of a relationship is hard. It takes bravery and courage which you may not think you have. If you have to break up over text because it makes you feel safer then do it! Organization's that explore relationship issues are Relate, One Love Foundation. If feeling unsafe to leave a relationship please reach out to one of our listeners on our site or therapists who have personal or specialized experience in this area.