Can You Get PTSD From Emotional Abuse?

Emotional abuse may lead to PTSD or another stress disorder known as C-PTSD (complex post traumatic stress disorder). The two stress disorders have several overlapping symptoms. But C-PTSD often causes more extensive issues with emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, and negative self-thoughts.

Unlike PTSD, which is typically caused by a single traumatic event, C-PTSD usually involves chronic trauma that lasts for months or years. As a result, some people with C-PTSD may need long-term therapy to recover from emotional abuse.

This article explains how you can develop C-PTSD or PTSD from emotional abuse. Learn more about emotional abuse, its effects, and the signs you may be experiencing it.

How Is Emotional Abuse Related to PTSD?

Abusers can use many non-violent tactics to assert their power over someone. These emotionally abusive behaviors are meant to terrorize and control another person and keep them in the abusive relationship.

Living in this constant state of stress or experiencing extremely frightening events, such as being threatened, can lead to symptoms from the trauma.

Emotional Abuse and C-PTSD

The DSM-5 (Diagnostic Manual for Mental Disorders 5th revision), a handbook used by healthcare professionals to diagnose mental health disorders, does not recognize C-PTSD as a formal diagnosis, but it does recognize PTSD as one.

On the other hand, the ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision), which is published by the World Health Organization, recognizes C-PTSD as a "sibling disorder" to PTSD that has three additional groups of symptoms:

• Problems in affect regulation, such as irritability or feeling emotionally numb
• Beliefs about oneself as defeated or worthless, along with feelings of shame, guilt, or failure related to the traumatic event
• Difficulties sustaining interpersonal relationships

Because the concept of C-PTSD is relatively new, healthcare providers typically make a diagnosis of PTSD instead of C-PTSD. Still, understanding C-PTSD helps providers more accurately define a person's experience and form an appropriate treatment plan.

Signs of Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is defined as any non-physical behavior that is designed to control, subdue, punish, or isolate another person through the use of humiliation or fear.

Emotional abuse includes—but is not limited to—the following tactics:

• Erosion of self-esteem: Abusers may insult your appearance, dismiss your thoughts, feelings, or passions as silly or unimportant, attempt to humiliate you in public, belittle you, call you mean names, or accuse you of being things you are not.
• Control: Abusers may follow or spy on you, gaslight you by trying to convince you the abuse never happened, control your access to finances, force you to quit your job, or stonewall you by refusing to communicate.
• Instilling fear: Abusers may have frequent outbursts or behave unpredictably. They may destroy your property, drive recklessly with you in the vehicle, outright threaten you or your loved ones, or tell you stories of how they could physically abuse you.
• Blame-shifting: Abusers may try to convince you that the abuse wouldn't happen if you were different in some way. They may blame you for their problems, deny the abuse, or throw made-up accusations your way, such as cheating or lying, when you try to raise an issue.
• Dehumanization: Abusers may try to make you feel unimportant. They may deny you support, withhold affection, degrade you, ignore your physical or emotional boundaries, or constantly interrupt you.
• Isolation: Abusers may try to come in between you and your family and friends. They may prevent you from socializing, character assassinate you, or attempt to turn you against your family members (or your family members against you).
  

How Trauma Impacts the Brain

During a traumatic event, the body produces large amounts of stress hormones which affect the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. These areas of the brain are responsible for feelings and actions related to fear, clear thinking, decision-making, and memory. These functions and abilities have been found to be decreased in a person who has experienced trauma.

PTSD From Emotional Abuse Symptoms

A person who is diagnosed with PTSD will experience symptoms that persist for months or even years after the traumatic event.

There are four categories of PTSD symptoms, which can vary in severity:

1. Intrusive thoughts: Someone with PTSD may experience distressing dreams or flashbacks of a traumatic event over and over again. They may feel as though it is impossible for them to escape their trauma.
2. Avoidance: Someone with PTSD may avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma, such as people, places, activities, or situations. They may try to avoid remembering, thinking, or talking about their feelings or what happened.
3. Cognition and mood changes: Someone with PTSD may be unable to recall important aspects of the traumatic event. They may have distorted thoughts or feelings about themselves or others, or blame themselves for what happened. They may have persistent feelings of fear, horror, anger, guilt, and shame, or feel uninterested in activities they once enjoyed. They may feel detached from others, or become unable to experience positive emotions.
4. Heightened reactivity: Someone with PTSD may become easily irritable, have angry outbursts, or behave recklessly. They may become easily startled, overly suspicious of their surroundings, or have problems concentrating or sleeping.

Effects of Emotional Abuse

Research shows that people who experience emotional abuse often experience more severe depression, anxiety, stress, and emotional dysfunction compared to people who have experienced only physical abuse, only sexual abuse, or combined physical and sexual abuse.

Emotional abuse can have short and long-term effects on a person's mental and physical health as well as their ability to have healthy relationships down the line.

Mental Health

Emotional abuse can impact your mental health. Repeatedly experiencing emotional abuse can wear down your sense of self, self-worth, and confidence. You may find yourself feeling constantly afraid, ashamed, guilty, unwanted, powerless, and hopeless. You may feel like you're unable to feel positive feelings. Emotional abuse can even lead to depression and anxiety.

Physical Health

Emotional abuse puts the body in a constant state of stress, which can lead to physical health problems, including changes to the brain. Studies have also shown that children who experience psychological abuse are at higher risk for long-term and future health problems, including diabetes, lung disease, malnutrition, vision problems, heart attack, arthritis, back problems, and high blood pressure.

Interpersonal Relationships

When you have been in an emotionally abusive relationship, the abuser has probably made you feel isolated, unwanted, and alone. These experiences affect how you see yourself and others, even when the abusive relationship ends.

Many people who have experienced abuse feel distrustful of others and cannot form stable relationships. They may end up in another abusive relationship because the dysfunctional relationship dynamic has been normalized.

How to Heal from C-PTSD

Individuals with PTSD should work with a mental health professional experienced with PTSD, such as a therapist or psychiatrist.

Treatment for PTSD includes medications, psychotherapy, or both. Some people with PTSD may also be affected by ongoing trauma, depression, panic disorder, or substance abuse, which will also need to be addressed by a team of health professionals.

Treatment options for PTSD and C-PTSD include:

• Medications: The most common medications for treating PTSD are SSRI antidepressants, which can often help decrease certain PTSD symptoms. Other medications may be recommended for symptoms such as sleeping problems or nightmares.
• Psychotherapy: Also known as talk therapy, psychotherapy helps a person with PTSD learn about symptoms, identify triggers, and help develop skills and strategies to manage symptoms. Psychotherapy may also target symptoms directly or help a person manage social, family, or job-related problems.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): Two types of CBT used for PTSD are prolonged exposure (PE) therapy and cognitive processing (CP) therapy. PE helps a person face negative feelings associated with trauma through gradual exposure to their emotional triggers. CP helps a person make sense of and reframe their bad memories and negative thoughts.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EDMR): This therapy combines PE therapy with a series of rapid, rhythmic eye movements that help you to reprocess traumatic memories and weaken your response to them.

Summary

Emotional abuse is a type of trauma that can lead to significant consequences. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that affects your thoughts, memory, emotions, and thinking. It can have you in a constant state of fear and alertness, which causes your body to produce large amounts of stress hormones.

Emotional abuse affects your physical and mental health, as well as your ability to form healthy relationships, even when you leave the abusive relationship. If you've been diagnosed with PTSD, a mental health professional and appropriate medication can help you process your trauma and manage symptoms.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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By Rebecca Valdez, MS, RDN
Valdez is a registered dietitian nutritionist, health writer, and nutrition consultant. She received her MS degree in nutrition from Columbia University.

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