Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
Abuse - Blog Posts
ive been through so much pain in my life. Inflicted with it. Helpless to stop it.
And I’m so angry and depressed right now. How dare the world hurt me this way. I was supposed to be given kindness and love- and instead i was tortured. Broken. Made an example of. Turned into nothing.
Everyone else has such consistent happiness within them. Like they have no question that they are loveable. How fucking dare the world take that stability away from me. I was to feel safe and good all the time.
Instead i went through horrific circumstances. People stood back and said, “that kid’s going to be fucked up for life”. And instead of STOPPING it i am now fucked up for life. And those who could? Yeah.. those who SHOULD’VE helped DIDN’T. And it’s as much their fault as it is the inflictor’s fault. The pricks.
To me now it seems that almost all people have parents who love them. Families that take care of them. I hate how my life lacks that. I hate how i SHOULD’VE had that and DIDN’T.
I even feel evil right now, speaking out into the void. Their words. Telling me i am Pretending to be a victim. My pain is my own fault, i am just what is wrong. Not them. Blame blame shame and guilt on me. Not them. And this enrages me when it is so clearly twisted and manipulative.
I feel evil still. Saying out loud the fucking TRUTH. I feel like my words will genuinely hurt someone. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I know I am hurting and that this pain dies with me. No one else should ever have to feel this.
But that’s just it. MY WORDS ARE NOT HARMFUL. The guilt and gaslighting is STILL clinging to me. If I put a voice to my pain and actually say what happened, well means i’m hurting my abusers!!! Oh how DARE I hurt them by saying out loud what they fucking did to me. The liars say they want the truth. Ha.
For the void i will say it. The truth is I was robbed of a loving family. Of a happy childhood. Of kindness and love. I was not only ignored but also bullied mercilessly by people supposed to love me. And I am forced to carry this pain. I must carry this fucking horrible pain and loss. All the way to my grave. I should’ve had it better. And i didn’t.
Evil horrible people abused me.
I am a fucking victim of abuse.
I still don’t believe myself when i say that. I wasn’t abused in ways other people have- so it doesn’t count. It’s not enough abuse
But, These scars… they will last my life. They are real so anyone who says my abuse wasn’t abuse can FUCK off. (looking at you enabler family members .)
Other people had families. And love. I had a fucking posse of bullies. I was hated from the moment i could speak up. Three year old child treated like garbage.
No one else (besides other victims) carries these kinds of scars. Often i feel so alone among those who were loved.
They can live their peaceful blissful lives, happy to be loved and happy to love. I am happy for them. But the jealousy i have towards them too.. It fuels my anger at my abusers. They should’ve loved me. Treated me well. Not twisted me up and broke me and toyed and played and hit and sneered at and despised and grew disgusted with me.
World?
Void?
I am angry. And jealous. Why cant i go back and be loved? Where is the lost hours, days, of kindness? I was not shown affection.
I want to have been loved.
All i am left with is loss.
It makes me mad.
WHAT?! (Cars 3 spoilers)
@imcarstrash My God! Did you not realize what you just said? Or the implications of it!
“Oh yeah he hit her but at least he didn’t attempt to straight murder her.”
I don’t think you intended it that way but it looks like you’re condoning possible abuse.
Even then, Jackson got angry and desperate and decided to crash her into the wall.
l’ll admit I kind of ship Cruzon but I don’t condone what Jackson did. If I were to write a fanfic of these two being a couple than Jackson would be the one who’d need to admit he’s at fault, that he realized he went too far, maybe try to make it up to Cruz. Though not in the way of “I’ve changed!”, “It’ll be better this time”, or Cruz doing the whole “I can change him” schtick seen in almost EVERY YA novel nowadays.
Sorry it’s just your comment struck out at me as being ignorant of what you’re saying. I don’t want to attack you, but inform you. I apologize if it seemed like I was attacking you.
After everything with moving away, leaving the cult, graduating, making real friends, and being able to be openly queer... I still miss my parents so much
They treated me awful and still haven't really apologized. They're all sad I'm not in contact with them but have done nothing besides decide "I guess we should stop messaging since they asked us to". This is safer for me but God I want parents. The bond between parent and child and the security of having a guardian to rely on is a privilege ripped away from me.
I love my found family, but wish my biological ones were what I needed and deserved.
It's really crazy to realize that, in a way covid is the best thing that ever happened to me. To be clear, the pain and death caused by the pandemic is in no way worth the small gains it circumstantially brought me but that's why it's weird to think about.
I don't know when or if I ever would have recognized the parental and spiritual abuse I was dealing with, if the pandemic didn't make it more apparent and me less busy. I might not have been able to do my internship that led to my job offer because of the distance and my then lack of a license. I wouldn't have the funds I need to move out unless my internship was virtual and interest was paused on federal student debt. I might have been too scared to leave those I knew in the cult, but because of lack of in person events I was able to mostly distance myself.
Even now it can suck ass. I'm stuck with these abusers nearly 24/7 and can't see anyone who actually cares for me. I'm terrified about getting Covid and increasingly disgusted by the lack of government response. So knowing how all this awful stuff has helped me, and also other people in groups like this brings me a small comfort. It will never be a fair trade but it's something positive.
I feel bad for the non-cult friends I have sometimes because they always ask "How are you :) ?" so innocently. They say they genuinely want to know cause I hold back, and it's nice to have that support. Still, it feels bad to always have a new horrible thing happen that's shaken you.
Sure I'm growing so much as a person and I love that, but I'm also dealing with my parents increasingly abusive behavior and struggling to organize my escape plan. All anyone can really do is say "It will get better!" Truely I believe that too, yet I still have to suffer now and I cant make myself ignore it anymore. I'm tired of being miserable no matter what I do. Everything that can be done has been, so now I helplessly flounder.
Even to this blog, it feels bad to not offer any insight or clear hope. I've seen so many people in similar situations who aren't lucky enough to know they should be done with this in less than a year. I just wish it would stop hurting...
The way I've seen abuse normalized as a Jehovah's Wittness is appaling. I know so many people, including some in my family, who are stuck with abusive partners under threat of excommunication or "sinning against god". Few victims ever leave and those who find out about the situation often praise the victim for putting god first by staying.
On the other hand children are told their value exists in being fully obedient to their parents to please god. You are explicitly told that even if the parent is wrong or listening to them upsets you, it doesn't matter. Yet, they're surprised when abusers flourish.
Members can't acknowledge this because their relationship with the organization is the same. You do everything you're told, often in your worst interest, and you can't leave.
Hey bestie I'm having one of those moments
idk i guess there’s just something terribly lonely about growing up in an environment where people love you well enough, sure, but only the parts of you they want to love. they look at you and they see something they could love, if only you were a little different - a little happier, a little straighter, a little more complacent. so they take those traits of you that they like and they treat that part of you with love and kindness, and they take the rest of you and leave it for dead, all while talking about how much good they do for you
CW: Religious Abuse
Hey, it's my time to vent to the void called the internet. So I'm a pimo exjw and it sucks. Only recently did I realize I was in a cult but now I just feel stuck. I am forced to feign faith, hide my activities, and process alone. If I don't I will be shunned and possibly kicked out with no support.
The cult raised me with the idea that obedience was my whole worth, so my mom found me and the rest of my family easy to abuse. I can't stand having to pretend to worship the god that wanted me to let her hurt me. Even after I set boundries and shook up the status quo, my father let's her hurt him because he knows he will never be able to divorce her and wants to fix her.
I also get torn up when I think about how much being queer in that environment fucked with me. I wanted so bad to be 'normal', and tried to 'fix' myself. I was told your environment and bad habits make you lgbt and that it would probably be a phase. But then time based while I tried to be as perfect as possible. It wouldn't change. I told my parents thinking it would be a phase, who despite saying 'only acting on your feelings is bad', told me to keep it secret to avoid harrassment from other people in the cult. I was regularly exposed to anti-LGBT rhetoric and hate speech from the people closest to me.
Despite all this I wanted so bad to be good for my parents. I cringe thinking of all the things I did in that aim. Who I treated unfairly or had to abandon because they were "bad association". My experience is by no means the worst you will hear, but its telling. I've been taking a lot of comfort in the exjw community and hope this can at least validate someone else.
Reparenting Affirmations for Child Abuse Survivors
I am so glad you were born.
You are a good person.
I love who you are and am doing my best to always be on your side.
You can come to me whenever you’re feeling hurt or bad.
You do not have to be perfect to get my love and protection.
All of your feelings are okay with me.
I am always glad to see you.
It is okay for you to be angry and I won’t let you hurt yourself or others when you are.
You can make mistakes. They are your teachers.
You can know what you need and ask for help.
You can have your own preferences and tastes.
You are a delight to my eyes.
You can choose your own values.
You can pick your own friends, and you don’t have to like everyone.
You can sometimes feel confused and ambivalent, and not know all the answers.
I am very proud of you.
If you could please show this comment to your mother :
Ma'am your are a bitch and a bad mother. I don't care if you give a single material shit to your child, right now you're taking her/his hope away, like the selfish being you are. You should go fuck yourself and stop dragging her/him down because - it is quite clear to me - you had your own hopes crushed down when you were a child. Your daughter/son is a beautiful and complex being called human, and even in the depth of your shallowness, you owe this beautiful person RESPECT and LOVE as a mother. Now since you are a childish bitch, go sit in the corner for the time needed to you to understand basic civil actions like that. And you, Adu. You don't DESERVE this. She is LYING, you have has much chances as any mofos up in here and let me set something straight, wether you do it in a straight-line, classic way, or take the harder, longer path, you WILL do it. You HAVE the potential and obviously your mother is too busy being shallow to see that you are great and that you are nice and funny and she doesn't know JACKSHIT about you. I've suffered the same kind of thing from my own mom, please, I really beg you, don't listen to her and go away from this poisonous being ASAP.
My mom keeps telling anyone she talks to on the phone that I won’t get into Hopkins (aka my dream school)
MOM YOU’RE TALKING AS LOUD AS A JET ENGINE AND YOU’RE MAKING ME CRY
this person (can't find pronouns) is posting even worse shit about trans men now. Saw some really creepy things on the blog when I went to block them. report this dumbass!
yikes.
I just would like to add, not correct or change any of this:
People with personality disorders, anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc are SOMETIMES ALSO ABUSERS and their mental health definitely plays into their patterns of abuse. I've...unfortunately been on both ends of being abused by a mentally ill person. I'm not proud of how I behaved on one end and and my experiences at the other won't excuse that, ever.
That being said, language is highly important and it IS critical to avoid generalizing terms for oppressed groups like mentally ill and disordered people, so yes to all of the above. Just...remember people are complicated, yeah?
Can I please find a single resource for abusive relationships without there being "narcissistic" in the tile like come on.
11/14/22 UPDATE: I’ve taken both “Naruto: The Last King, The Last Priest” and “Therapist R. J. Hill” off my etsy store. Both comics can be read, in their entirety, on this tumblr.
It’s here! A hard copy version of my comic -- including a ten page sequel! $5.00 + shipping
I was debating whether or not to post the sequel online. I thought maybe the sequel would be the motivator for people to buy the hard copy, but I already have mixed feelings about selling fanwork, so I’m gonna go ahead and post the sequel here.
That said, purchasing a hard copy helps me out. I’m hoping to put the money towards some color risograph zines that I can take to an upcoming comix convention.
I’m putting the sequel under a cut because, while it doesn’t contain explicit imagery, it does involve discussion of a parent making inappropriate/incestuous comments towards a child.
Click here to read more
This is as far as I had planned these comics going. I may revisit the idea, but probably not for awhile. Thanks for the wonderful messages that y’all have sent me!
My Etsy: LINK / My Ko-Fi: LINK
Clients’ names and personal information have been omitted to retain their privacy.
You can read the sequel here: LINK
You can buy a digital copy of this and the sequel here: LINK
You can buy a printable copy of this and the sequel here: LINK
75% of the profits from sales are donated to the Northwest Community Bail Fund and the Transgender Education Network of Texas. The remaining 25% covers the various fees of selling online.
My Etsy: LINK / My Ko-Fi: LINK
11/14/22 UPDATE: I’ve taken both “Naruto: The Last King, The Last Priest” and “Therapist R. J. Hill” off my etsy store. Both comics can be read, in their entirety, on this tumblr.
tht moment when you realize the 'cute moments of peace' between you and your abusive partner are literally just the honeymoon/moment of calm phases in a longstanding multiple-year long cycle of being abused and you're highkey tweaking out so much but also there's nothing you can do about it so like OIFNOINFDGNFIDODNFNFDNFPNFPNNPVFDGNPNVFDPND deep sigh. when is gonna be the next eggshell I accidentally step on. when is this prick going to get bored of the lovey dovey romance and either lie about me for attention or outright just beat me again, or rape me again, or try to break my stuff again. so tired of this divas bs istg every time I stand up for myself I'm the bad guy and every time I try to forgive im just a doormat that gets trampled on I EHYHVVONNPSDIOOBOBIOD
Abusive Parents
I know it gets really hard living with someone who treats you as if you are the most useless person they ever know. They make you feel like a burden, they make you feel like you should just die instead of bothering other people with your mere existence. It’s sad, it really is. I wish I could help you with this.
But all i can ask you is to be strong. Most of you probably have it worse than me.
But i just don’t get it, why do they act as if they care in front of others and behind closed doors they are literally satan. It hurts so bad being called useless, being called stupid multiple times, being beaten and being compared.
I mean I am sorry if I was not the daughter you wanted me to be, but i am trying to be the best you know?
When you grow up a certain way, you may know what the cat feels when it shies from your hand
me as a child, spitefully: I'm going to act self destructively as a protest! Because nobody cares and I'm going to show them what happens when I'm this abused and neglected! I'm turning on myself! I'll cause myself harm before anyone else could!
my parents, to themselves: lol that was the point, keep at it but if you bring anyone's attention to it, you'll pay for that. Do it secretly so we can't be held responsible.
Causing distress and pain to another person and then focusing on how that person reacts to it, and criticizing the reaction, as if the reaction and not the abuse is wrong, is in fact, evil. It’s not helping anyone but the abuser divert attention from themselves and abuse they’ve just committed. Abusers have no business criticizing anyone and least of all their victims. Your reactions to abuse were never wrong.
to all the victims of csa who have never told anyone. to all the victims of csa who don't remember, clearly or at all. to all the victims of csa who struggle with understanding if it was "bad enough". to all the victims of child on child sa. to all the victims of csa who are still repulsed to sex or even to all physical touch. to all the victims of csa who don't wish to "overcome" their repulsion to sex or physical touch. to all the victims of csa who freeze, who dissociate, who cry and rage easily. i love you i love you i love you. they don't know you. you know you. trust yourself. trust your body. you decide what to do with what happened. you decide how you feel. keep going
How abusive childhood teaches you to stay in abusive relationships:
you have to be obedient and submissive in your childhood if you don’t want to get beaten, you’re taught this is normal in life, so why should you doubt it when it happens in your relationship?
you’re supposed to care about everyone else more than yourself, you’re taught to provide comfort and be minimally or completely non-demanding of other family members, always put yourself last, and this is exactly what abusive partner will demand of you as well, how would you fight it if you’re taught this is just your place in life?
your appearance, interests, skills, achievements, and faults are constantly exposed to criticism, insults, humiliation and ridicule in abusive childhood, and you’re taught it’s normal, how are you supposed to fight it when it happens in a relationship?
you’re humiliated and ridiculed for seeking intimacy or try to express yourself in your childhood, how would you know it’s okay for you to desire understanding, consideration, reassurance and intimacy in your relationship?
if you’re used to being hit, humiliated, and having your objections to it ignored, or even worse, minimized and punished by even worse violence, how are you supposed to defend yourself when it happens in a sexual situation? how would you be able to know it’s wrong for another person to harm you if your parents have been doing it, and they supposedly love you?
if you’re taught to always be grateful that things aren’t worse, always compare yourself to someone who is tortured worse, how are you ever supposed to reach out and get help for being abused? how are you supposed to know when your situation is really, really bad? There’s always going to be someone somewhere in the world tortured worse, and this becomes a reason for you to suffer in silence.
Abusive parents are direct cause of abusive relationships, if your boundaries aren’t destroyed and your sense of what’s acceptable and to be tolerated in your close relationships skewed to allow abuse, you have much easier time rejecting abusive relationships later in life.
If you lived with abusive parents, it meant that the rules changed for you any moment. You could have been praised for something most of the time, then suddenly one day it brings a punishment instead. You could have been allowed to do certain things until one day you got tortured for doing it, and afterwards you couldn’t even know if it was alright to ever do it again. Some things were only allowed when parents were in forgiving mood, sometimes things you absolutely had to do, you knew you’d be punished if anyone saw you doing it, or if they found out.
You never knew what the consequences would be. You could be wildly overpunished for something as simple as failing to close a door, saying the wrong word, having a certain face expression. You would get blamed and punished for things you didn’t do. You would get punished for someone’s bad mood. You would get punished for existing next to someone who was angry and wanted a punching bag.
There was no consistency in your life, you had to live tiptoeing and hoping you would somehow do the right thing and avoid torture, the rules would change and twist and turn against you no matter what you would do, you developed a sixth sense to figure out when someone was irritated or upset, and you would still end up hurt and abused.
And you got told this is normal, this is just how life is, everyone has it like this. You don’t doubt it or see it as abuse, it’s just your every day, you can’t imagine living a life where you’re safe, where you don’t have to expect thousand horrible things to happen if you make a tiny mistake that you initially had no idea would even be a mistake.
Now think about that and tell me where your anxiety came from. What living like this continually would do to a person. Because once you lived like this, this mindset doesn’t go away, it’s what you’ve learned to live with, what you’ve been forced to live with if you didn’t want to be in pain every second of your life. How would you not panic and over analyze your every word? How would you not try to predict just what kind of horror could come from most mundane and common action? How would you not at least try to brace yourself for the next torture someone might have ready for you? Your senses are not wrong, they’re trained to do this, they’re experienced in trying to help you survive life in abuse.
Abusive parents keep making you feel like you’ll miss out on something if you leave, like they’re just waiting to become this loving, supportive person the second you turn away from them, it’s maddening how far they’re willing to go to, just to make sure you can’t leave. When a parent changes their face constantly, being loving and nice in one second, and then cruel and terrifying in another, the only “reward” you can get from enduring all the pain and fear is by actually being around for those 5 minutes they might be nice to you! And if you’re not, it feels like you endured all this for nothing, almost like you’re missing out. It hurts.
You’re not supposed to only feel safe around people when they’re in a good mood and when they don’t have specific motives for hurting and manipulating you, you’re not supposed to be enduring horrific tantrums and emotional abuse just to see if in next half hour they’ll decide to turn nice again, it is not humane or normal to act in this way. Good people are good all the time, bad people make you feel confused about who they are so they could keep getting away with all the bad.
I finally cracked down on the whole ‘why don’t you know this by now’ and ‘you’re too stupid to be independent’ issue with abusive parents so I’m going to break it down.
So lets make two things clear; first: Parents ARE responsible for TEACHING you basics of life, which includes survival, your rights, and basic knowledge that you don’t get in school, and second: Yelling at you for not knowing these things already, is not teaching, and they’re aware of that.
Abusive parents don’t care for their responsibility towards the children at all, but they are very interested in making you useful and appearing as great parents to everyone outside the family. So, if they’re teaching you anything, it’s only for the sake of you doing things for them. Hell, sometimes they’ll just tell you to 'pick it up by watching’ or 'figure it out on your own’ and give you dozens of responsibilities without even asking if you know how, or offering an explanation. Maybe they want you to do menial jobs, maybe you’re responsible for raising your siblings, or restocking groceries and cooking, maybe cleaning or cutting grass or carrying wood or caring for animals; it will be allowed for you to know these things but nothing outside of it, so you wouldn’t start thinking you’re actually competent. You will do all these things correctly and still be called stupid, lazy, worthless, and be reminded that you are nothing without them; all the things you don’t know or can’t do will be thrown into your face, you’re told you are incapable of learning them.
That’s how they get that nice balance of keeping you working for them but still completely in the dark about how to survive without them. The less you know the easier to keep you from leaving; they will sometimes even devalue things you learn at school, just to get your confidence down.
But then, in their infinite masterplan to keep you uninformed, they will forget that it must appear to other people as if you know things, or it will be suspicious; why didn’t they teach their child anything? They’re all pretty paranoid about being found out, so they have to make some counter-measures just in case. So then they gotta paint this picture of 'oh I did teach my child everything! But the child doesn’t listen! If they still don’t know something it’s their own fault!’ And they pre-emptively act as if they have already taught you everything, but you, dumb slob, retained nothing of it. And they need you to act guilty of this in front of other people too, so they’ll often yell at you 'How old are you? How do you already not know this?’ in front of others, as a display of their narrative. They’re saying 'oh we did teach the child and we say it constantly but the kid doesn’t listen even at this age!“
But what it does to you is actually gaslighting. Because you know you never heard this information from them before. They never even came close to comprehensively explaining anything to you. But the scenario playing out in front of you suggests they not only did, but you forgot, and if you try to defend yourself how will you convince anyone that you didn’t forget? It’s a not such a big deal to go fight them on it, but as it happens again and again, you start doubting your memory. Sometimes they even act surprised when you don’t know something, as if they spent days teaching it to you? You start getting worried that you’re missing out on all this vital info, but watch how even when they’re fake surprised you don’t know, they still don’t give you the info! They shame you for not paying attention and what you’re supposed to take from this is to pay attention in the future where they still just never fucking tell you anything relevant ever.
Because it’s just a show of charades to keep all the useful information that would help you to freedom safely hidden away from you, while having you look forgetful and guilty for any witnesses. It’s more likely you’ll learn something asking your neighbour who doesn’t have any stakes in keeping you uninformed.
Being treated like this for long term can make you doubt your own ability to learn, will make you worried that everyone knows more than you and ashamed for being stupid. It will not only discourage you from learning but make sure you have way less context for new knowledge you acquire; you will struggle to place new concepts without the basics and new information will feel arbitrary and irrelevant.
If you want to test if your parents are doing this, try telling them you’re reading resources for abuse; see how quick they are to either devalue or forbid it as a 'wrong and manipulative’, and likely throw a tantrum for good measure to make sure you don’t do it again. Now don’t really do it. If you could have imagined them reacting like this, then yes, they’re definitely aware they’re abusing you and ready to cover it up and isolate you from the information that would have helped you escape.
What you can do is slowly come to terms with the fact that no, you’re not stupid; nobody took the time to actually teach you. The information denied to you, is not actually intimidating and impossible to retain, it’s simply threatening to abusers, but you are capable of learning it. Once you do learn it, it will make sense they wanted to keep it away from you, in fact you will find out among the things they did tell you, there was a lot of guilt-inducing lies. You are not stupid for not knowing. You have had knowledge withheld from you, and then got gaslit into accepting responsibility for it.
There’s a difference between parents who want you to be happy, and parents who want you to look happy.
If your parents want you to be happy, they will be there for you when you need them, and help you with your struggles. They’ll take your pain seriously. They wont make fun of your problems when that hurts you. They’ll point out your good sides. They’ll let you know they hold you valuable and important no matter what the rest of the world says about you. They’ll make sure you know they’re on your side, here to protect and get you out of trouble, that if something happens you have backup, you have a safety to fall back on. They’ll make sure you have a place you belong to, place where you’re welcome and wanted. They’ll be a source of comfort, warmth and support.
If your parents want you to look happy, they’ll demand that you stuff down your emotions and play an act of a child who doesn’t need anything or anyone, who is just fine the way things are, no matter how bad things are for you. They’ll dictate what you’re allowed to think of them and how you’re supposed to react on anything and everything they do. They’ll demand you hide your pain, your symptoms, your anger, your fear, anything that makes them look like less than perfect parents has to go. They’ll let you know that they are important, you aren’t. Their emotions and needs and desires are important, yours aren’t. Their pain has to be paid back, yours has to be ignored and forgotten. Your life falls back on what is and isn’t convenient to them, every part of you is judged only by how much use they can have of it. And of course, they’ll tell you they did it all for your sake, because if they didn’t, who knows how awful you would turn out.
If they say they want you to be happy, but their actions tell you that you need to look happy “or else”, they’re abusive parents, and they do not care about your happiness.
One of the features of abusive family environment is not being allowed to talk about past events. It’s unwritten law that you’re not supposed to mention that one time when your parent screamed at you, swore and called you slurs, broke something of yours, hit you, threw something at you, threw a tantrum and punished you when you did nothing wrong, failed to support you, failed to acknowledge you as a person, dismissed all that you do like it doesn’t matter. If you mention it, and acknowledge that it’s a thing that happened, and something they’ve done, you’re risking them doing it all over agian, just to “teach you better than to mention such thing”.
It’s normal in abusive environments to always continue as if nothing happened, as if what happened was just some kind of isolated incident that is probably not going to happen again, and you’re scared to cause it again by mentioning it. I’ve seen abusive parents throw unbeliveable amount of rage, threats and violence at their children, disappear for a while, then come back with a smile like nothing at all happened, like the event before wasn’t even real for them, making you feel like you could have just imagined it all. Children would be just so relived that the rage is over, they wouldn’t dare to mention it again, they just wanted it to not repeat. The fear of abuser gets overwhelming to the point where holding them accountable isn’t even a priority anymore, you’re not even expecting an apology or guilt over what they’ve done, you just end up feeling confused and helpless and hope to god they don’t explode again. You focus on tiptoeing around them and praying not to trigger another outburst, feeling like it could be your fault if it happens again.
These “incidents” are never isolated or accidental, abuser can bring them on whenever they want, to get more fear and control over the household, and they know it. They’re using the outbursts intentionally to keep the rest of the family on their toes, scared and ready to obey out of fear. They know they’ll get more tiptoeing and leeway and get away with anything and get special treatment as a reward for abusive behaviour.
Other way I’ve seen abusers deal with this is to pretend as if they’re too ashamed or too guilty to talk about those things, and everyone should stop reminding them as they already feel bad enough, of course they’re going to say it angrily, so you know that calling them out is dangerous, and then of course, do the abusive behaviour over, and over again, making is extremely doubtful about just how guilty they feel. If a person experiences guilt and shame after their behaviour, it’s unlikely they will repeat it, because it would hurt them too, so if they do repeat it, it’s more likely that their “guilt” was just a lie.
I actually thought every family had such “secrets” they’re not allowed to mention and it was common to not bring up the dirty laundry on other family members, until I heard a friend chat with their mom about something messed up that happened years and years in the past. I was shocked to hear that to them it was a completely normal thing to talk about, there wasn’t a thing that was forbidden to mention! Mentioning past events wasn’t used against anyone or to hurt anyone, it was just something to learn from and analyze and discuss, and this is normal for all events, everything should be talked about.
Abusive parents constantly undermining your accomplishments until you no longer believe in yourself is such a specific and insane experience. You’re going thru life and you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, you work hard, you try to do your best and get acknowledged for at least something, and it’s already hard because your confidence is awful and you don’t feel yourself able of much, but then you do something for what everyone else is celebrated for! You win an award, or you finish school, or you win a contest, or you gain a title, or you learn to drive a car, you get thru a difficult course, you start creating something people like and admire, you get a job, you manage to get something done despite huge obstacles and low resources, you get thru exams even tho you’re all sick and stressed, you actually manage to do all the things your parents were telling you from the day one you wouldn’t be able to do, and then what happens?
Nothing. Your parents skim across it as if it was nothing. They refuse to pay attention to it at all, and act like it didn’t even happen. Or even worse, they immediately create a diversion, some family drama or start celebrating some dumb accomplishment of their own to make it all about them, and completely bury anything you’ve done. If you dare remind them that they acted like you could never do it, they act like you still didn’t do it, you just got lucky, it must have not been hard at all if even “you” have managed to get it done. You see your friends, other people you know, being congratulated, being thrown parties, given presents, patted on the back, being told they’ll go far and accomplish much, them getting it done is a Big Deal! But why not you? How come when you do it, it suddenly doesn’t count? How come when someone else finishes school or a difficult course they’re being regarded as smart and capable, but you’re still proclaimed dumb and incapable of anything? What it is about you that makes even your accomplishment invisible, unworthy of attention of praise, unable to reclaim you from the supposed dumbness and incapability you’re always accused of? What are you supposed to do then, to no longer be stupid and inadequate? And you chase bigger things, bigger accomplishments, maybe if you’re the best, the best of everyone, they’ll be forced to acknowledge you, they wont be able to pretend anymore that you’re nothing. But no matter what you do, it’s just snorted upon, and you’re brutally reminded how you’re nothing, how you wouldn’t even be able to live if your parents didn’t feed you. As if everyone else wasn’t fed by their parents.
This pushes you either into insane perfectionism and feeling like nothing you do is ever good enough, or into helplessness, no longer wanting to even try anything because it’s painful, and scary to do so much and still not move from one spot. You end up believing what they tell you, that it’s impossible to redeem yourself, that nothing you could do could make you not dumb, not incapable, not unworthy of praise.
It’s infuriating because the reason parents do this is nowhere near “trying to help you be better” or “because they know you the best and can tell you the truth about you”, most often it’s precisely to put you in the state of helplesness so you would stay dependent on them! They want you in the state of belief that there’s nothing you can do right, and that you’re only alive because of them, and cannot survive on your own, because then they can control you and blackmail you with your life on line! And there’s two more reasons and they’re disgusting, the first is jealousy, abusive parents are actively jealous if their child manages to succeed where they couldn’t! They will readily bury and humiliate a child just to feel better about their own capabilities, to convince themselves that they’re still better, superior, that their accomplishments count more than children’s ever will, they do it to reassure themselves that the child is dumb compared to them, when the reality is everything but.
And the last reason is, to push the child so far into achievement it destroys the child, but then they can take credit. They can brag to everyone how their child’s incredible results are of parent’s making! They get to act like they’re amazing parents and that’s why their child is achieving high results! If they can, they will even make money and gain fame from a talented child, and if they can’t, then the talent is worthless and should be repressed and insulted for not bringing anything to them.
Your parents lied. Even they know your accomplishments aren’t nothing. If they were nothing, they would never be a threat to them. They would never have to talk them down. They would never try to take credit. They would never spend time convincing you that you’re dumb or inadequate. They would never have to convince you that you cannot live independently. They would never feel the need to out-shine you or to make it all about themselves. Their actions show they knew. They consciously tried to keep you down, not because you were down, but because you were going up. And they didn’t like that.
Even as I write this, I know it wont make it better, not until you get proper acknowledgment, credit, congratulations and praise from people you believe in, you wont be able to believe in yourself. We are social creatures who need social feedback to believe in ourselves. We should get it. And those who deny it to us do not want us good things.
Recognizing abusive friendship is really hard once you get invested. I’ve been in so many and I still never recognize it when it starts. Abusers looking for targets will aim at someone who’s generally not very-well accepted in their community, struggles with isolation and desire to be acknowledged, is lonely or desperate for friends, because it’s easy to make someone believe they got something they desperately want to have.
They will share your interests and opinions, immediately have tons in common with you, make fun, engaging, supportive coversations, tell you stories that make them look good and sweet, make you feel safe and like you have a real chance in having a best friend in them. They will also want to test your compassion by revealing some vulnerabilties and painful events, to see if you will rush to comfort them and try to make them feel better. Once they know enough about you to use your weak spots against you, and to always be able to play the victim and make you feel sorry for them when they hurt you, it’s a game of time - either you will eventually realize this person has no empathy for you and is willing to put you thru horrible shit and feel nothing about it, or they will take the last piece of your energy and patience they can and then abandon you brutally, when you need them the most. They will of course, frame it as your fault, because how could you expect them to be your friend.
I’ll try to list some of the things I’ve noticed repeat in abusive friendships:
1. Lack of boundaries. This person will find one way or another to have problem with your boundaries, they might act like your boundaries are hurting them, or criticize you for “not trusting them” or “not caring for them enough” if you want to keep some things private. They will also make you feel like taking distance and space from them is hurting them, and act as if it’s an act of aggression or betrayal, and you were supposed to be there for them at all times.
2. Very fast progression. They will want to have won you over in shortest amount of time possible, so they could start getting what they want. They could start acting very affectionate, as if you’re already close for a long time, reveal too intimate, too vulnerable details about themselves, and get you to do the same, talk as if they already know all about you, or plan things as if it’s already settled that you’ll be friends for a long time. They will convince you that they’re a perfect person for you right away, and you’re the perfect person for them.
3. Feelings of obligation. You feel as if you’re the only one who can help this person, only one who they trust to never abandon them. You feel as if you lead this person on to rely on you, to count on your friendship, and you cannot bring yourself to take this away from them. You are the only one who knows how hard they’re struggling, how badly they need your help and friendship, and it feels like they’re always in some kind of a crisis and desperately in need of you. Even when they hurt you, you feel obligated to care about their situation more than yourself, and put your own feelings in the back to focus on what they’re going thru.
4. Fear of being the bad friend. You’ve heard so much about how others have hurt this person, and you grow scared that you’ll become one of those bad people. After comforting this person about their bad experiences, it would feel really bad to cause them another one, and make you look like a hypocrite. It gets so bad that you have to watch out what to say, how to put boundaries, and how to call them out on anything, out of fear that you will hurt them, they seem too fragile and too easily hurt to ever be able to handle even an implication that they’re doing you wrong. In the end, you let them get away with anything, convincing yourself they would never be doing it on purpose, and finding yourself unable to let them know out of fear that it would hurt them. If you do tell them, you end up having to listen about how bad they felt about having to hear it.
5. You can’t live up to their standards. This person has expectations of you, and if you fail them even a little, there’s consequences, and you might find yourself at the receiving end of criticism, verbal abuse, insults, humiliation and blame. There’s a narrow frame of who you’re allowed to be and how you’re supposed to act and feel, and you’re not allowed to exist outside these criteria, and you can tell that your friend will either hurt or abandon you completely if you grow and branch out beyond what’s acceptable for them. You end up fretting their backlash at any risky action you take, and end up hiding your opinions and general state of mind just to stay safe. You might end up changing for them, subtly, and feeling constant anxiety that they will abandon you if you don’t act as required. (Just to be clear, standards of “no racism, no homophobia, no sexism, no trashing minorities, no supporting dictatorships, and being against rape, fascism and genocide” are good standards. All of you should be having those standards. Bad standards are about how you look, what you weigh, what grades you have, how much you earn, how much abuse can you take without breaking, how much shit can you tolerate, which ones of your interests are good, what you’re allowed to feel and talk about - nobody should be inflicting those on you. None of that is for your own good.)
6. There are repeating periods of good and bad times. Even abusive friendships can have periods where everything seems just fine, calm, your friend is in a good mood, so you are allowed to be in a good mood as well, you get to have fun and you start to forget there ever was a time when this friendship made you feel awful. These periods are essential for keeping up the friendship, because any person would get away from a friend who made them feel horrible at all times, and abusers know this, and make sure you get nice and relaxed before they decide it’s safe to lash out at you, or throw another crisis at you. Friendships are not supposed to have intense ups and downs, they’re supposed to be your refuge, your safe place where you can count on things remaining stable.
7. You are getting stressed, insecure, upset and sad. Friendships should not make you feel this way. Of course, there’s always a possibility in long term friendships that something happens that gets you upset once or twice, but a new friendship, short friendship or any friendship should never be able to cause you repeated stress, pain, insecurity and drama. If a friend is cause of all these feelings, it is very likely they don’t have compassion for you, and don’t actually care what kind of effect they’re having on your life - which means they’re not your friend. Actual friend would care deeply about what they’re causing you, and would go far to avoid making you stressed, upset and sad - after all, don’t you make sure you’re not making their life filled with stress and anxiety?
8. Your instincts are telling you something is wrong. You might be getting surges of anger or feel trapped and repressed, you might notice you’re not able to express how you feel, and always have to play down your reactions and responses, you don’t feel free to take your time for yourself as you’d want to, you always feel guilty or like you failed your friend, and you know this is not how a friendship should make you feel. Still, you feel a lot of affection and care for this person so you can’t just walk away from them, even if things do feel wrong, and you want to give it another chance or wait to see if it gets better, so you bear with it and try to ignore your instincts, at least for a while, because the alternative has became scary for you.
9. You’re scared to leave. Even when you realize this friendship is adding stress and pain onto your life, and that it’s became toxic for you, leaving it becomes a big, almost impossible task. You’re worried about how your friend will cope, how will they react if you tell them, if there will be backlash, if they’ll be in the middle of crisis and you’ll add onto that stress, if they will start insulting you and telling you that you’re just as bad as anyone else in their life, if they’ll badmouth you to other people, and worst of all, you’re worried if you would deserve all that by leaving the friendship. And no, you wouldn’t. You don’t have to nurture anyone who hurts you, and you’re allowed to walk away from anything that harms your life.
If you thought of someone while reading this, I hope you will know that you have the right to be upset with this person, regardless of weather it would hurt or upset them. You have the right to consider that maybe this person isn’t the ideal friend for you, and that you don’t owe them your friendship no matter how obligated they make you feel.
I need to mention that you don’t have to prove or know that someone is abusive in order to cut them out of your life. There are bad friendships that aren’t abusive, sometimes two people just don’t mix well and if supporting one person is harming another, that’s not working out well, and shouldn’t continue. You have the right to demand only good friendships, only positive ones, that bring warmth and care to both you and your friend. You don’t have to struggle thru bad ones, you don’t owe anyone to make their life better at your own expense. Needing different type of friend is reason enough. There are friendships that are good for both people, and that’s the only type you should strive for.
if I’m so “useless” then why do you keep using me?
if I’m so “worthless” then why do you order me around?
if I’m so “incapable” why do you care so much about decreasing my confidence?
If I’m such a “burden” then why do you care so much for keeping me dependant on you and making sure I can’t leave and be on my own?
If I’m so “stupid” then why do keep talking to me? Why not find someone else?
if I’m so “ungrateful” then why do you want me around? You shouldn’t want to give your time and energy to ungrateful people now, should you?
If I’m such a “monster” then why do you not try to get away from me? Why would you bother keeping me against your will, aren’t you scared?
If I’m such a “horrible demon” then why are you not running away from me? Why are you talking to me as if you couldn’t be less worried about what happens to you next?
If I’m such a “selfish creature” then why do you give me anything at all? It’s almost like you need to hold something against me, if I’m selfish why should I care if I’m called that?
It’s almost like your manipulative logic doesn’t hold up to tiniest bit of scrutiny. So why are you lying so much? Saying one thing and then doing as if the opposite is true doesn’t show you in good light. It turns out I’ve been plenty useful, plenty valuable, capable, bearing you as a burden even, smart enough to see thru you, grateful enough to tolerate your bullshit even though you never gave me a good reason to, harmless to you to the point where you could take your shit out on me unbothered and unafraid, selfless enough to put away my very own well being for the sake of your needs, so why do you think now, after all, I would forgive you lying to me? Don’t expect forgiveness from me.