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Emotional Abuse: The Invisible Train Wreck
So many survivors only recognize emotional abuse in hindsight. Mary Elizabeth Robinson is one of them.
For most of my marriage, I never felt my relationship with my husband of 22 years was abusive. One would certainly think it would be so easily detected, so easily felt. I would have never believed it could have been part of my life. The abuse had crept in effortlessly, and I subconsciously learned to survive through the horrific dysfunction. I despised it, yet I couldn’t give it up.
Unlike physical abuse, emotional abuse creates invisible wounds, making recovery more difficult, as the scars can be more self-destructive. There are no marks to see, and friends and family are frequently unaware of your pain.
In the beginning, I thought my relationship struggles were the typical marital woes everyone faced as newlyweds. I felt determined to work through the battles I constantly faced. I thought it was that part of my marital journey where I would suffer through and learn to accept my significant other’s faults. I was proud of my ability to survive. The scars on my heart began to thicken and block my ability to love this man. The mistreatment felt so wrong, but my learned ability to forgive trumped all my…
