Emotional abuse is when another person makes you feel unhappy or guilty about yourself or is mean about things that aren’t really your fault.

Sometimes it is hard to see that someone is being emotionally abusive to you – often it is someone close to you who is supposed to be caring towards you, like someone in your family, a friend, or a boyfriend or girlfriend. There are lots of different ways people can be emotionally abusive; they might shout at you and say hurtful and unkind things, leave you out or exclude you from things, make you feel unwanted, or they might do or say things that make you feel bad about yourself in other ways. They may even do this to try to control you or make you do things that you don’t want to do.

If you feel like this could be happening to you, it’s important to remember that you do not deserve to be treated like this. It is never ok to be abusive to someone, but sometimes people act abusively because of their own problems and end up taking it out on you.

If someone is acting this way towards you, you can tell an adult you trust, or call a helpline who can help by contacting other people who can help you. If you are unsure where to turn, ask our chatbot here.