She wrote me that she felt terrorized. She travelled in the car – her bully was there. She ate at the kitchen table – her bully was there. This little five-year-old girl, Little Laura, told me that she had to walk to school with her bully. At school, her bully, with his predatory behaviour, was […]
Author: lauracorbeth
Psychological Abuse: The Evidence is Clear
Children who are emotionally abused and neglected face similar and sometimes worse mental health problems as children who are physically or sexually abused.
Attachment
The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they induce in the way a developing child will continue to interpret the world and her situation in it. —Dr. Gabor Mate Attachment: The Foundation We Cannot Afford to Ignore It is easier to […]
Gratitude
Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for. —Zig Ziglar Gratitude is important for our mental health! I am sitting by my waterfall listening to some piano music. It is worship music. I am […]
The Silent Treatment is Cruel
I tried to explain how hurt I was. Just like when we were kids, I was trying to get my mother to hear me. She refused to listen to me. Refused to empathize with me. Here I was, a grown-up woman, and the same thing was happening. No reply. Silence. —My Courage to Tell The […]
The Rescue Mission
Bo—our 5th rescue dog. This story didn’t make it to the book as we rescued him after it was published. —Laura Corbeth The Rescue Mission Going to bed: a thousand kisses. Waking up: another thousand kisses. Bo, our latest rescue, was very grateful for his new life. When our rescue cat, Buddy, passed away suddenly […]
Stonewalling
Children of emotionally unreliable mothers who may appear caring one moment and then unavailable the next—leaving the child in a quandary about whether the Good Mommy or the Bad one will show up— also pull back at the first sign of discord. These children use withdrawal as a way of self-protection and grow up to […]
Lies. Lies. Lies.
Behaviorally, we show that the extent to which participants engage in self-serving dishonesty increases with repetition. LIES: When Someone Deliberately Lies to Hurt Science. Brain scans. Dishonesty begins early. We all lie. Sometimes we tell a little white lie to spare someone’s feelings. Sometimes we exaggerate, leave something out, or tell a child a harmless […]
Don’t Minimize Your Abuse
Standing there was my brother with one of my mother’s cooking pots sitting on our picnic table. It was full of water. My brother was standing over the pot with a knife in his hand. His other hand was holding some kind of skin. —My Courage to Tell Breaking the Silence: Why Minimizing Abuse Keeps […]
The Scapegoat
One person is chosen to bear the brunt of any psychological discomfort experienced by the family as a whole. —Sarah Swenson, MA, LMHC The scapegoat carries the burdens of the family. Are you the scapegoat in your family? The word scapegoat comes from an ancient story in the Old Testament, Leviticus 16. In it, two […]