Well, we've come to the point where we have a few real-life examples of emotional abuse taking its toll on the lives of well-known victims. Thank you for riding along with me this far.
Not everyone deals with their abused experiences the same way, which is something I learned while researching the lives of Tatum O'Neal, Eminem, and Michael Jackson for my 3-part celebrity case study. Tatum O'Neal seemed to adopt a "that's the breaks" type of response to everything she's been through, and it looks like she's quietly, slowly, gradually withering away because of that. Eminem apparently took his pain and lashed out at the world with it - his rap career is based on making everyone in the world his enemy, especially other females. (I don't think he would actually do any of the heinous things he raps about, like killing and raping others, but the fact that he's even rapping about them at all is unsettling enough.) Finally, Michael Jackson tried to "fix" everything that he perceived was wrong with him - his body and his childhood - because of his father's cruelty.
So, left on their own, the effects of emotional abuse don't seem to fade on their own. Actually, they stay attached to a victim and rot him or her away until there's nothing left. I think of emotional abuse as similar to transferring a parasite: one set of self-destructive feelings goes from one host to another. But, just like dealing with a real-life parasite, the effects of emotional abuse can be "wormed" out of a victim. It just takes a specific remedy.
In my next set of posts, I'm going to take on a new case study of emotional abuse victims who have gone on to survive and thrive. Then we'll see what we can learn from their examples about how to live well after it's all over. :)
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E.N i like your blog so much, it's beyond refreshing to know YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE but it's also sad because you wouldn't want anyone else to go thru this. emotional abuse makes you question yourself a lot, it really does especially when it comes to questioning your experiences and asking 'was it really that bad' or 'i'm i over-reacting'
ReplyDeleteThank you! I really appreciate your comments, it's nice to know that there are others out there who sympathize and want to get better :).
ReplyDeleteI really agree with your statement about questioning yourself, it's very true - at least for me. Lately I've found myself questioning a lot of what's going on around me, but I'm trying to make myself press on and keep posting. Because that's part of the brainwashing process - you want to convince yourself it's not that bad, because you need the pain to not be that bad for your own sanity. But if you have to tell or ask yourself that in the first place, I believe it's worse than you probably think.