5 Signs You’ve Been Mentally Abused

There is no easy way to talk about mental abuse, but it’s important that you know what to look for if you are considering or experiencing it.

Mental abuse is meant to undermine your self-esteem and make you feel worse about yourself. It is also a form of manipulation and control. The effects of mental abuse are just as detrimental as the effects of physical abuse.

This video is designed to help you identify whether or not you may have been mentally abused and to provide resources to help you start moving on from the abuse.

Official Discord:

Writer: Max Feng
Editor: Brie Villanueva
Script Manager: Kelly Soong
Voice Over: Amanda Silvera (http://www.youtube.com/amandasilvera)
Animator: Gabriele Garcia
Post Production & Sound Design: Gower Sun (https://youtube.com/@MidnightCityMusic)
YouTube Manager: Cindy Cheong

References:

Karakurt, G., & Silver, K. E. (2013). Emotional abuse in intimate relationships: the role of gender and age. Violence and Victims, 28(5), 804–821. doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.vv-d-12-00041

Grimm, S., Wirth, K., Fan, Y., Weigand, A., Gärtner, M., Feeser, M., Dziobek, I., Bajbouj, M., & Aust, S. (2017). The interaction of corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor gene and early life stress on emotional empathy. Behavioral brain research, 329, 180–185.

Boudewijn Van Houdenhove, Eddy Neerinckx, Roeland Lysens, Hans Vertommen, Liesbet Van Houdenhove, Patrick Onghena, René Westhovens, Marie-Beatrice D’Hooghe, Victimization in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia in Tertiary Care: A Controlled Study on Prevalence and Characteristics, Psychosomatics, Volume 42, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 21-28, ISSN 0033-3182, .

Mwakanyamale, A.A., Yizhen, Y. Psychological maltreatment and its relationship with self-esteem and psychological stress among adolescents in Tanzania: a community-based, cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry 19, 176 (2019).

Pietrangelo, A. (2019, March 29). What Are the Short- and Long-Term Effects of Emotional Abuse? Healthline.

Matthews, A. (2019, September 4). The Effects of Emotional Abuse. Psychology Today. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/traversing-the-inner-terrain/201909/the-effects-emotional-abuse

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Excellent Coping Tips For Dealing With That Awful Stress

Stress is a normal, daily occurrence. Having said that, stress shouldn’t be a major problem in life. Minimizing the impact of stress in one’s daily life is something that requires conscious effort. Here are a few great tips for dealing with stress.

A great tip that can help you when you’re feeling stressed out is to do some cleaning. Part of the reason you’re stressed out might be due to the fact that your home is so unorganized. Doing a bit of cleaning around your house can help you out and get you in a better state of mind.

A great tip that can help you fight stress is to challenge the way that you think. Try to stop yourself whenever you’re thinking negative. Instead, try to think more positive in these situations. You’ll notice that you’ll feel much better about yourself and the events in your life.

A good tip that can help you keep your stress down is to start living your life the way you want to. There’s nothing worse than settling in life and having regrets about it. By going after your dreams you’ll notice that your stress levels will be much lower.

A great tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to stop procrastinating. If you have projects that need to be completed, you should make sure you finish them on time. Procrastinating might feel comfortable at first, but it will ultimately lead to a lot of stress.

A great tip that can help you relieve a lot of stress is to stop being so hard on yourself. Don’t beat yourself up over every little mistake that you make. You have to be able to accept that we are all human and that we all make mistakes.

You should be sure to learn the difference between good stress and bad stress so that you are better able to deal with each of them. Good stress is short lived and not very strong and can be used to motivate you whereas bad stress feels as though it is unrelated to anything in particular.

If you’re finding yourself under a lot of stress often, try scheduling your day. If you plan your day out, you won’t have to worry about trying to figure out what do next. Or if you’re already doing this and are still stressed, do the opposite and try and wing it each day. Find the right medium between scheduling and winging it that works for you.

One great way to deal with stress is to be sure that your posture is correct. This is important because you may be causing physical stress to your body with incorrect posture. The tension that builds up in your shoulders can cause you to feel more pain than you ordinarily would. Correct posture will also help you to feel more alert and positive.

Find out and target what it is that is stressing you out. If it is just your job, then think about switching careers. If it is your family, then work on the issues you have with them. Really zone in on what it is that is causing your stress and then deal with the root of the problem.

A great tip that can help you reduce stress is to make sure you give your brain enough time to unwind before you go to sleep. If your brain is still really active when you go to sleep, you’ll find yourself worrying about everything you’re supposed to do which will leave you feeling stressed.

If you are feeling stressed, take a deep breath before you do anything else. Take a step back and count from one to ten, while taking some deep breaths, and then rejoin the situation. This simple task can be the difference between being professional, proactive and calm in the moment, versus reactionary, defensive and stressed.

Music is a great stress reliever. It is commonly known that music therapy can cut down on stress if you find the music relaxing and soothing. Be sure to select music that is suitable for your own stress relief, because the music that soothes one person may not have the same soothing effect on you. Music causes people to breath deeply which allows our brains to produce serotonin.

Identify what is stressful in your life. The key to minimizing the physical and psychological symptoms you might be experiencing as a result of stress, lies first in identifying what exactly is stressing you out. Is it your job? Is it too many financial obligations? While we can’t entirely eliminate such causes in their entirety, we can take steps to address the causative factors within the larger overall problem.

A good tip that can help you reduce your stress is to spend some time away from the internet now and then. It can get very tempting to get on the internet but it can also be very stressful because you’re always making yourself accessible to others. Take some time off to spend by yourself.

In order to deal with stress effectively, you should take time out of your daily activities to give yourself a mini self-massage. Gently rubbing the palm of your hand in a circular motion has been shown to promote relaxation which in turn is a great way to reduce stress levels.

Take an analytical approach when you feel stressed. If you can change the situation, take the necessary action to relieve yourself of stress. If you can’t change the situation, work on how to better handle it, which will also help dissipate stress.

Exercise is a great way to reduce stress. Just taking a jog or walk can be very relaxing. As you exercise, endorphins kick in. Endorphins have a calming effect, so they reduce the amount of stress you feel. Also, exercise can rid your body of harmful toxins that may be causing your stress.

Making the effort to keep stress as a minor annoyance, instead of a major one, takes time. Tuck these tips away for a time when you’re experiencing stress, and then you’ll feel more in control of your feelings. Don’t let stress take over your life; use these tips to deal with it.