Learning the effects of being raised in an emotionally abusive family can explain many troubling behaviors.

Childhood emotional abuse can impair self-trust, emotional regulation, and adult relationships.

The family scapegoat may be the first to recognize abuse and seek help.

Learning the short- and long-term effects of growing up in an emotionally abusive family will help you in several ways. It will help you determine whether you grew up in such an environment; it can explain why you suffer from certain problems and why you've acted in troubling ways; and it can explain why you have felt the way you have—about yourself, your parents, and the rest of your family.

Sources of Emotional Abuse Within a Family

If you were raised in an emotionally abusive family (please refer to my previous post to help determine this), then the damage you experienced may have come from:

Witnessing the abuse of one parent toward another

Witnessing the abuse of both parents against each other

Experiencing emotional abuse first-hand from one or both parents

Experiencing a sibling emotionally abusing you

Being the target or scapegoat of all family members

In addition, the daily environment of experiencing and/or witnessing emotional abuse has a cumulative effect on your self-esteem, your ability to trust your perceptions, and most importantly, your ability to interact with others in a healthy way.

Short-Term Effects of Childhood Emotional Abuse

Short-term effects of growing up in an emotionally abusive environment include:

A sense of helplessness

All these effects continue or worsen the longer children experience emotional abuse, either personally or by........

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