Anger and abuse in relationships are about blame: "I feel bad, and it's your fault.
" Even when resentful, angry, or emotionally abusive people recognize their behavior, they are likely to blame it on their partners: "You push my buttons," or, "I might have overreacted, but I'm human, and look what you did!" Angry and abusive partners tend to be anxious by temperament.
From the time they were young children, they've had a consistent sense of dread that things will go badly and they will fail to cope.
They try to control their environment to avoid terrible feelings of failure and inadequacy.
The strategy of trying to control others fails even if they are powerful, for the simple reason that the primary cause of their anxiety is within them, not in their environment.
It springs from one of two sources: a heavy dread of failure or fear of harm, isolation, and deprivation.
The Silent Abuser Not all emotional abuse involves shouting or criticism.
More common forms are "disengaging" - the distracted or preoccupied spouse - or "stonewalling" - the spouse who refuses to accept anyone else's perspective.
While verbal abuse and other forms of emotional abuse can be roughly equal between men and women, stonewallers are almost exclusively male.
Biology and social conditioning make it is easier for men to turn off emotions.
The corpus callosum - the part of the brain that connects its two hemispheres is smaller in men, making it easier for them to shut out information from the emotionally-oriented right hemisphere.
On top of that slight biological difference, social conditioning promotes the analytical, unemotional male on the one hand or the strong silent type on the other.
The partner who stonewalls may not overtly put you down.
Nevertheless, he punishes you for disagreeing with him by refusing even to think about your perspective.
If he listens at all, he does so dismissively or impatiently.
The disengaging husband says, "Do whatever you want, just leave me alone.
" He is often a workaholic, couch potato, womanizer, or obsessive about sports or some other activity.
He tries to deal with his inadequacy about relationships by simply by not trying - no attempt means no failure.
Both stonewalling and disengaging tactics can make you feel: oUnseen and unheard oUnattractive oLike you don't count oLike a single parent What All Forms of Abuse Have in Common Whether overt or silent, all forms of abuse result from failures of compassion; he/she stops caring about how you feel.
Compassion is the lifeblood of marriage; failure of compassion is its heart disease.
It would be less hurtful if your partner never cared about how you felt.
But when you were falling in love, he/she cared a great deal.
So now it feels like betrayal when he or she doesn't care or try to understand.
That's not the person you married.
Failure of compassion can feel like abuse.
Harmful Adaptations to Anger and Abuse: Walking on Eggshells The most insidious aspect of abuse is not the obvious nervous reactions to shouting, name-calling, criticism or other demeaning behavior.
It's the adaptations you make to try to prevent those painful episodes.
You walk on eggshells to keep the peace or a semblance of connection.
Women are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of walking on eggshells due to their greater vulnerability to anxiety.
Many brave women engage in constant self-editing and self-criticism to keep from "pushing his buttons.
" Emotionally abused women can second guess themselves so much that they feel as though they have lost themselves in a deep hole.
Recovery from walking on eggshells requires removing focus from repair of your relationship and your partner and placing it squarely on your personal healing.
The good news is that the most powerful form of healing comes from within you.
You can draw on your great inner resources by reintegrating your deepest values into your everyday sense of self.
This will make you feel more valuable, confident, and powerful, regardless of what your partner does.
" Even when resentful, angry, or emotionally abusive people recognize their behavior, they are likely to blame it on their partners: "You push my buttons," or, "I might have overreacted, but I'm human, and look what you did!" Angry and abusive partners tend to be anxious by temperament.
From the time they were young children, they've had a consistent sense of dread that things will go badly and they will fail to cope.
They try to control their environment to avoid terrible feelings of failure and inadequacy.
The strategy of trying to control others fails even if they are powerful, for the simple reason that the primary cause of their anxiety is within them, not in their environment.
It springs from one of two sources: a heavy dread of failure or fear of harm, isolation, and deprivation.
The Silent Abuser Not all emotional abuse involves shouting or criticism.
More common forms are "disengaging" - the distracted or preoccupied spouse - or "stonewalling" - the spouse who refuses to accept anyone else's perspective.
While verbal abuse and other forms of emotional abuse can be roughly equal between men and women, stonewallers are almost exclusively male.
Biology and social conditioning make it is easier for men to turn off emotions.
The corpus callosum - the part of the brain that connects its two hemispheres is smaller in men, making it easier for them to shut out information from the emotionally-oriented right hemisphere.
On top of that slight biological difference, social conditioning promotes the analytical, unemotional male on the one hand or the strong silent type on the other.
The partner who stonewalls may not overtly put you down.
Nevertheless, he punishes you for disagreeing with him by refusing even to think about your perspective.
If he listens at all, he does so dismissively or impatiently.
The disengaging husband says, "Do whatever you want, just leave me alone.
" He is often a workaholic, couch potato, womanizer, or obsessive about sports or some other activity.
He tries to deal with his inadequacy about relationships by simply by not trying - no attempt means no failure.
Both stonewalling and disengaging tactics can make you feel: oUnseen and unheard oUnattractive oLike you don't count oLike a single parent What All Forms of Abuse Have in Common Whether overt or silent, all forms of abuse result from failures of compassion; he/she stops caring about how you feel.
Compassion is the lifeblood of marriage; failure of compassion is its heart disease.
It would be less hurtful if your partner never cared about how you felt.
But when you were falling in love, he/she cared a great deal.
So now it feels like betrayal when he or she doesn't care or try to understand.
That's not the person you married.
Failure of compassion can feel like abuse.
Harmful Adaptations to Anger and Abuse: Walking on Eggshells The most insidious aspect of abuse is not the obvious nervous reactions to shouting, name-calling, criticism or other demeaning behavior.
It's the adaptations you make to try to prevent those painful episodes.
You walk on eggshells to keep the peace or a semblance of connection.
Women are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of walking on eggshells due to their greater vulnerability to anxiety.
Many brave women engage in constant self-editing and self-criticism to keep from "pushing his buttons.
" Emotionally abused women can second guess themselves so much that they feel as though they have lost themselves in a deep hole.
Recovery from walking on eggshells requires removing focus from repair of your relationship and your partner and placing it squarely on your personal healing.
The good news is that the most powerful form of healing comes from within you.
You can draw on your great inner resources by reintegrating your deepest values into your everyday sense of self.
This will make you feel more valuable, confident, and powerful, regardless of what your partner does.
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