Verbal abuse (also known as verbal aggression, verbal attack, verbal violence, verbal assault, psychic aggression, or psychic violence) is a type of psychological/mental abuse that involves the use of oral, gestured, and written language directed to a victim. Verbal abuse can include the act of harassing, labeling, insulting, scolding, rebuking, or excessive yelling towards an individual. It can also include the use of derogatory terms, the delivery of statements intended to frighten, humiliate, denigrate, or belittle a person. These kinds of attacks may result in mental and/or emotional distress for the victim.
Verbal aggression and abuse affects all populations, cultures, and individuals. These actions are psychologically damaging and are considered forms of emotional and physical harm to the victim. This type of behavior leaves individuals feeling poorly about themselves and can lead to the developing numerous negative health issues and disorders such as suicidal thoughts, depression, poor physical health, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, personality disorders, and even aggression.
Types
Victims of verbal abuse may display abusive behaviors towards other individuals. Verbal abuse and verbal aggression can take form in many ways. When individuals understand how verbal abuse may be presented, they can better analyze and act accordingly in certain situations. Verbal aggression can be defined as a characteristic or trait that drives a person to attack the self-values and concepts of others in addition to, or instead of, their own values and concepts.
Bullying – "The use of physical, psychological and verbal aggression to intimidate others to submit to the will of another and/or cause emotional upset". Bullying is typically one-sided and unprovoked by the victim and can be present in any environment. Gaslighting – The abuser makes the victim question not just their own self, but also their own sanity. One way abusers tend to use gaslighting is by questioning the victim in a manner that gets the victim to question their own perceptions of things. The effects of gaslighting include, individuals seeing themselves as outsiders, having low self-esteem, and feeling like they have no support in decision making. Accusations/Denial of wrongdoing: When an individual falsely accuses another individual of performing a certain action; When an individual denies his/her actions performed against another individual that could have or did cause the victim harm to self-preserve and protect the abuser. (Gaslighting also fits into this type of abuse). Minimization – Refers to when the abuser is attempting to down-scale the severity of the situation and making it seem insignificant to the victim or audience Threatening – When an aggressor uses words or actions against a victim that indicates if the victim does not comply with certain situations and/or actions, harm will be inflicted upon them. Name calling – The use of offensive language/names to gain something from the situation (ex: win an argument) or to probe a negative reaction out of another individual or situation; this is also used to induce rejection or condemnation without consideration of the facts in the situation.
Impacts
Age
Children and adolescents
Research shows that if a young child has been constantly verbally abused over the years they begin to develop constant feelings of mistrust, shame, doubt, guilt, and inferiority. Studies show that two out of three American children are victims of experiencing verbal aggression from their parents. This can affect their mental, social, and interpersonal development during the most critical psychological developmental years which are generally between 2 and 19 years of age. It has been found that verbally abusive behaviors in young children are generally learned through an adult role model such as a parent or caregiver. There are various ways a caregiver can use verbal communication to abuse a child: rejection of a child's worth, isolating a child from social experiences, terrorizing a child with verbal assaults, ignoring a child's needs, corrupting a child's views of the world and teaching them that delinquent activity is normal, verbally assaulting a child, and over-pressuring a child to mature faster than the normal rate of maturity for the child's age. Children who have experienced maternal verbal abuse have been more likely to develop personality disorders in their adolescent and young adult years, they have also been known to develop obsessive-compulsive characteristics and narcissistic behaviors.