Psychological abusers are masters of underscoring the affects of psychological abuse and conditioning victims to wonder if they're even victims at all.



Christine, a member of the BTR.ORG community, is on the podcast with Anne, answering the question:



How Does Psychological Abuse Affect You?



Tune in to the BTR.ORG podcast and read the full transcript below for more.

Psychological Abuse Can Affect Your Physical Health

In the BTR.ORG community, many women experienced negative consequences to their physical health as a result of psychological abuse, including Christine:

"My body and my health have suffered so extremely because of the length of time that I sat in this abuse."



- Christine, BTR.ORG Community Member

Victims of psychological abuse may experience:



* Brain fog

* Sleep issues

* Digestive issues

* Chronic pain

* Autoimmune disorders

* Pelvic pain

* Nightmares

* Headaches

* Poor immune function



Psychological Abuse Can Take a Toll On Your Mental Health

Victims of psychological abuse in our community have also reported that psychological abuse takes a significant toll on their mental health, causing them to experience:



* Depression

* Anxiety

* Apathy

* Eating disorders

* Obsessive thoughts

* Religious scrupulosity

* Terror

* Panic attacks



Psychological Abuse is Deeply Painful

Victims of psychological abuse face the societal obstacle of not having any bruises to show how deeply they are wounded by the abuse; however, victims like Christine describe psychological abuse as:

"Torment; just so, so deep and so continuous. I don't feel like people really understand the depth of the sorrow and pain and darkness. I very much felt like a prisoner of war. It very much felt like I was in a cold and dark and damp cell and I was crying and nobody could hear me. All of the incidents that would happen felt like my husband would drag me out of my cell and beat me again. It is so dark, it is so demonic, it's so evil. It's absolutely soul crushing."



- Christine, Member of the BTR.ORG Community

Find Support at BTR.ORG

If you are a victim of psychological abuse, or wonder if you may be a victim of psychological abuse, please attend a BTR.ORG Group Session as soon as possible. You deserve validation and support as you begin your journey to safety.

Full Transcript:

Anne (00:00 ):

Welcome to BTR.ORG. This is Anne. I have a member of our community on today's episode. We're going to call her Christine. She's a traveling nurse and the mother of five children. Her children range in age from four to 23 years old. She's been with her husband that she has now for seven years, and this is her third marriage. So we are going to learn about her story today. Welcome.



Christine (03:21 ):

Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here.



Anne (03:24 ):

We're happy to have you. You've been married three times. Would you describe all three of your marriages as abusive?



Christine (03:32 ):

Sadly yes, but I did not know that until going through this current marriage and all of the BTR resources. I did not realize they were abusive.



Anne (03:42 ):

For your first two where you got a divorce, looking back now like, "Oh, that's what the cause was.", you didn't know until BTR.

"It's Been Some Freedom, Being Able to Let That Go"

Christine (03:50 ):

That is true. With my first one, I was very young and he ended up just abandoning us. And so I always just thought I wasn't enough. I just wasn't enough to keep him happy.