The effects of verbal abuse on a person’s self esteem are far reaching. It is easy for people to tell you to ignore someone who is verbally beating you up, but it is not so easy to do. Words are powerful. They can speak beauty into your life or they can speak poison into your life. When those words are poison, they seep into your soul in a way that nothing else can.
When someone, especially someone you are in relationship with, is always calling you names, criticizing you, berating you, humiliating you in front of others…your self esteem is sure to suffer. In the beginning you may not believe the words that are being spoken to you. However, when you hear those words over and over again they begin to hammer away at your soul. Deep inside you start to wonder if perhaps there is something to what the person is saying. You may even find yourself defending the person who is verbally abusing you.
When you have been verbally abused to the point you are beginning to believe what is being said to you, this is a sign that your self esteem is being severely damaged. You will find yourself isolating yourself from friends and family. You start to believe that nobody probably wants to be around you anyway. You also feel like you are always being put in the position of defending your abuser, and you are tired of doing that.
Verbal abuse can affect your self esteem to the point you practically give up on life. You fail to go after the things you really want in life because deep down you do not feel you deserve those things. You may choose not to go to college because you don’t think you are smart enough. You may marry the first guy that asks simply because you figure nobody will ever ask you. You may fall into some kind of addiction to feel the void in your life and to escape the pain that you are feeling inside.
You may avoid things as simple as routine doctor visits because you simply do not care about yourself anymore and do not consider yourself worth the trouble. Your appearance may suffer because you stop caring how you look.
Verbal abuse is just as serious as other kinds of abuse. If you are in a verbally abusive situation, it is important to get out of the situation as soon as possible. Never let anyone make you believe you are not a valuable human being, because you are.
