Mental Health Journal
What is Emotional Abuse?
Emotional abuse is when an intimate partner has...
continually criticized you, called you names or shouted at you
insulted or driven away your friends or family
humiliated you in private or public
kept you from working, controlled your money or made all the decisions
refused to work or to share money
taken car keys or money from you
regularly threatened to leave or told you to leave
threatened to kidnap the children when the abuser was angry with you
abused pets to hurt you
manipulated you with lies and contradictions
http://www.therapistfinder.net/Domestic-Violence/Emotional-Abuse.html
EMOTIONAL ABUSE
a definition of verbal abuse
- You understand their feelings, but they never attempt to understand yours;
- They dismiss your difficulties or issues as unimportant or an overreaction;
- They do not listen to you;
- They always put their needs before yours;
- They expect you to perform tasks that you find unpleasant or humiliating;
- You "walk on eggshells" in an effort not to upset them;
- They ignore logic and prefer amateur theatrics in order to remain the centre of attention;
- Instead manipulate you into feeling guilty for things that have nothing to do with you;
- They attempt to destroy any outside support you receive by belittling the people/ service/practice in an attempt to retain exclusive control over your emotions;
- They never take responsibility for hurting others;
- They blame everyone and everything else for any unfortunate events in their lives;
- They perceive themselves as martyrs or victims and constantly expect preferential treatment.
what is emotional abuse?
There is no universally accepted definition of emotional abuse. Like other forms of violence in relationships, emotional abuse is based on power and control. The following are widely recognized as forms of emotional abuse:
rejecting
- refusing to acknowledge a person's presence, value or worth; communicating to a person that she or he is useless or inferior; devaluing her/his thoughts and feelings. Example: repeatedly treating a child differently from siblings in a way that suggests resentment, rejection or dislike for the child.
degrading
- insulting, ridiculing, name calling, imitating and infantilizing; behaviour which diminishes the identity, dignity and self-worth of the person. Examples: yelling, swearing, publicly humiliating or labelling a person as stupid; mimicking a person's disability; treating a senior as if she or he cannot make decisions.
terrorizing
- inducing terror or extreme fear in a person; coercing by intimidation; placing or threatening to place a person in an unfit or dangerous environment. Examples: forcing a child to watch violent acts toward other family members or pets; threatening to leave, physically hurt or kill a person, pets or people she / he cares about; threatening to destroy a person's possessions; threatening to have a person deported or put in an institution; stalking.
isolating
- physical confinement; restricting normal contact with others; limiting freedom within a person's own environment. Examples: excluding a senior from participating in decisions about her or his own life; locking a child in a closet or room alone; refusing a female partner or senior access to her or his own money and financial affairs; withholding contact with grandchildren; depriving a person of mobility aids or transportation.
corrupting/exploiting
- socializing a person into accepting ideas or behaviour which oppose legal standards; using a person for advantage or profit; training a child to serve the interests of the abuser and not of the child. Examples: child sexual abuse; permitting a child to use alcohol or drugs or see pornography; enticing a person into the sex trade.
denying emotional responsiveness
- failing to provide care in a sensitive and responsive manner; being detached and uninvolved; interacting only when necessary; ignoring a person's mental health needs. Examples: ignoring a child's attempt to interact; failing to show affection, caring and / or love for a child; treating a senior who lives in an institution as though she / he is an object or "a job to be done."
- Emotional abuse accompanies other forms of abuse, but also may occur on its own;
- No abuse - neglect, physical, sexual or financial - can occur without psychological consequences. Therefore all abuse contains elements of emotional abuse;
- Emotional abuse follows a pattern; it is repeated and sustained. If left unchecked, abuse does not get better over time. It only gets worse;
- Like other forms of violence in relationships, those who hold the least power and resources in society, for example, women and children, are most often emotionally abused;
- Emotional abuse can severely damage a person's sense of self-worth and perception;
- In children, emotional abuse can impair psychological development, including: intelligence, memory, recognition, perception, attention, imagination and moral development; and
- Emotional abuse can also affect a child's social development and may result in an impaired ability to perceive, feel, understand and express emotions.
possible indicators of emotional abuse
- depression;
- withdrawal;
- low self-esteem;
- severe anxiety;
- fearfulness;
- failure to thrive in infancy;
- aggression;
- emotional instability;
- sleep disturbances;
- physical complaints with no medical basis;
- inappropriate behaviour for age or development;
- overly passive/compliant;
- suicide attempts or discussion;
- extreme dependence;
- underachievement;
- inability to trust;
- stealing;
- other forms of abuse present or suspected;
- feelings of shame and guilt;
- frequent crying;
- self-blame/self-depreciation;
- overly passive/compliant;
- delay or refusal of medical treatment;
- discomfort or nervousness around caregiver or relative;
- substance abuse; and
- avoidance of eye contact.
http://www.thisisawar.com/AbuseEmotional.htm
))... I had to disagree with you.. I will smack you back with bat if you hit that mother.. cuz she did the right thing.. she is TRYING TO IMPROVE her daughter so she can live fullifull with life in future.. and mother spend damn money and spend her times with troubled daughter, still yet she didnt learned lessons for long run till that mother kick her to curb with poster. so Of course I agreed with that mother!
Doofmama EXACTLY!! 
Doofmama, you are the BEST mom and I know you do.. You are just like my mother!! That is what my mother been trying to teach me. She went hell with me and tried to get me open up and realize how hard it would be. I gave up and I had to open up and listen what my mother tell me. My mother know what the best for me. And guess what, I got a job when I was 16 at gas pump up station and was in Freshman in high school, I had to work every day after school till 8:30pm and then come home and study and finish my homework and then go to bed. It improved.. It brought my grades up till 11th grade in high school and I quitted my job and had good grades, 3.8 GPA and was in Softball team with honor letters.
Talk about mother knows best? There are some mothers out there aren't good mothers.
I am sorry... some mothers are like that.. but most mothers arent like that though... 
We all knows that we all are not prefect parents but we want to be good parents what we CAN, that´s important... It´s nothing do with prefect... I really has no idea why you brought the subject over "prefection" because we all know we are not prefect.
Honestly, I can see that Doofmama is different as your mom because I can tell thru her posts. Doofmama is work hard to take care of her children and tried to help their children what she can which different as your mom because your mom threaten you a lot. It's vebal abuse what your mom did to you. Doofmama did not threaten her children like this but I will be surprised that Doofmama will want to try to do that to her daughter like what a mother did to her daughter.
huh? Come on!!! This is a logical!!! I thought you also know it, too. 
I already add the link about emotional abuse. No it´s not just my belief but every websites in the world say the same... also SuperNanny, too..