Emotional abuse involves the use of threatening language to humiliate, isolate, or mistreat a teen deliberately. Although it does not leave physical scars, emotional abuse is just as bad as physical abuse. It leaves your child traumatized and damaged.
Teens who have experienced emotional abuse need a strong emotional support network for them to recover. The healing process takes time since your teen’s confidence may be broken. Do not think of healing as linear, it will have peaks and valleys. If your teen has experienced emotional abuse, they require your support to heal and overcome the trauma.
This article aims to help parents, caregivers, and educators learn how to support their teens through recovery effectively. It will also highlight the resources that might help teens recover from emotional abuse. If you are looking for immediate assistance for your teen, contact NexStep Teen Academy today.
Understanding Teen Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse is a complex cyclic relationship between your teen and their abuser. It begins with the abuser becoming controlling over your teen through manipulation or coercion. Once the abuser has the upper hand, they begin emotionally abusing your teen. Your teen becomes trapped in a manipulative and unsafe relationship that they find difficult to leave. To prevent your teen from leaving, the abuser may become physically abusive to teach your teen “a lesson.”
Signs of Emotional Abuse
If your teen is being emotionally abused, they may exhibit the following signs and symptoms:
Becoming isolated from their friends and family
Becoming timid and less confident in themselves
Not making any decisions without consulting a specific person
Becoming fearful
Struggling to maintain relationships
Becoming a people pleaser or engaging in reward-seeking behavior
Low self-worth
Becoming overly self-critical
Fear of making mistakes
Hypersensitivity to criticism
Depression and anxiety
Essential Steps in Recovery from Teen Emotional Abuse
Healing from emotional abuse is not easy. When your teen is ready to begin their healing journey, they need to go through several steps, including:
Acknowledging the Issue
The first step of any healing journey is acknowledging the issue. As a parent, you should help your teen accept what has happened to them. Denial can be a hindrance to healing. If you were the one emotionally abusing your teen, apologize and start your own healing journey. If you do not do this, you will pass on your trauma to your teen, creating generational trauma. Be the one to break the cycle of abuse.
Acknowledging the issue helps teens understand that emotional abuse causes as much damage as physical and sexual abuse. Help your teen see that they can overcome the trauma and abuse they have endured.
Building a Support Network
A strong support network can be the difference between overcoming and being consumed by the trauma of emotional abuse. You can help your teen build a strong support system by reaching out to their most trusted friends or family members. Having a support system that understands the veracity of the situation can help your teen heal faster.
A support network goes beyond friends and family. Seek professional help to ensure your teen unpacks and processes all their underlying issues. Talking to someone can help your teen have an outlet for their negative thoughts and feelings. The confidential nature of therapy helps teens build confidence and trust.
Practicing Self-Care
Many people forget that self-care is a crucial part of healing. Simple things like getting enough sleep or eating healthy food can help teens overcome emotional abuse. When your body feels better, your mind will also feel better.
If you want to help your teen overcome emotional abuse, encourage them to do the things they once enjoyed. For example, if your teen enjoys sporting events, take them to the arena so that they can cheer on their favorite team. Self-care will help your teen overcome the trauma of emotional abuse.
Identifying and Avoiding Triggers
As a parent or guardian, you should help your teen identify and avoid triggering situations. You do not want your teen getting re-traumatized. To do this, you need to pay attention to your teen’s behavior and ask about the history of their emotional abuse. Once you have identified their triggers, you can develop coping mechanisms around the triggers.
Developing Healthy Coping Mechanisms
One of the most important parts of healing is developing healthy coping mechanisms. To help your teen deal with difficult emotions, you should help them develop healthy coping mechanisms through art, music, or exercise. Journaling can also give them an outlet for difficult emotions.
Establishing Boundaries and Healthy Relationships
As your teen heals from emotional abuse, they need to learn how to set clear boundaries. They also need to recognize the differences between a healthy and a toxic relationship. If something does not align with your teen’s values and principles, they should learn to say no. Boundaries prevent your teen from being re-victimized.
Teens should also learn to recognize the qualities of a good relationship. Your teen can ask the following questions to gauge whether their romantic or platonic relationship is healthy for them:
When conflict arises, can you deal with it collaboratively?
Do you feel overly criticized in the relationship?
Can you set boundaries without feeling fearful?
Can you freely express yourself?
Does your relationship fulfill your needs?
These questions can help your teen differentiate between a healthy and toxic relationship.
Focus on Getting Better
The healing journey is long and winding. You should encourage your teen to focus on getting better despite any challenges that might arise along the way. Remind them that healing is not linear. Focusing on the positives can help your teen overcome trauma faster and in a healthy way.
Parental and Guardian Support in Teen Abuse Recovery
How can you, as a parent or guardian, support your teen? The following are some things you can do to help your teen recover:
Creating a Safe and Supportive Environment at Home: When you create a safe and supportive environment at home, your teen will feel secure enough to share their struggles. They will know they have someone to rely on when they feel sad or overwhelmed.
Encouraging Open Communication: Open communication skills help teens express themselves fully about difficult situations like emotional abuse. When you encourage your teen to share, they get an outlet for difficult emotions. Be their shoulder to lean on and support them through every step of the healing journey.
Creating an Emotional Support Network: Teens who have undergone emotional abuse require an emotional support network. Bring together trusted family members and friends to support your teen as they revolver.
Teen Emotional Abuse Treatment at NexStep Teen Academy
Getting your teen the help they deserve is the most important thing you can do to help them. Although it does not leave any physical scars, emotional abuse is just as bad as physical abuse. At NexStep Teen Academy’s teen IOP, we offer a variety of treatment options for teens who have experienced abuse. We focus on helping them overcome the trauma caused by such abuse.
The highly experienced staff at our teen PHP and IOP ensures that your teen receives the highest quality of care. We tailor our program to meet your teen’s special needs to ensure a quick recovery. NexStep Teen Academy only employs people who have experience working with teenagers. Teenagers require a different treatment approach than adults. Our goal is to ensure that teens receive appropriate treatment for emotional abuse.
NexStep utilizes various therapeutic approaches for teens who have experienced abuse. During your teen’s enrollment in NexStep’s outpatient program, we utilize a number of evidence-based treatment approaches like:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Dialectical behavior therapy(DBT)
Family therapy
Group therapy
Along with these, we utilize holistic treatment to help provide a comprehensive approach to our programming. To learn more about how NexStep Teen Academy can help, contact our team today.
Contact NexStep Teen Academy today to get your teen the help they deserve. Our dedicated team will listen to your story and recommend the most appropriate treatment.
If your teen cannot access in-person therapy, they can try online or phone counseling. NexStep Teen Academy offers virtual/online counseling for teens.
Yes, healing can be long and winding. It is normal to feel like you are taking one step forward and two steps back. However, to continue your healing journey, you should remain focused on the goal.
Teen Emotional Abuse Recovery Support
Table of Contents
Emotional abuse involves the use of threatening language to humiliate, isolate, or mistreat a teen deliberately. Although it does not leave physical scars, emotional abuse is just as bad as physical abuse. It leaves your child traumatized and damaged.
Teens who have experienced emotional abuse need a strong emotional support network for them to recover. The healing process takes time since your teen’s confidence may be broken. Do not think of healing as linear, it will have peaks and valleys. If your teen has experienced emotional abuse, they require your support to heal and overcome the trauma.
This article aims to help parents, caregivers, and educators learn how to support their teens through recovery effectively. It will also highlight the resources that might help teens recover from emotional abuse. If you are looking for immediate assistance for your teen, contact NexStep Teen Academy today.
Understanding Teen Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse is a complex cyclic relationship between your teen and their abuser. It begins with the abuser becoming controlling over your teen through manipulation or coercion. Once the abuser has the upper hand, they begin emotionally abusing your teen. Your teen becomes trapped in a manipulative and unsafe relationship that they find difficult to leave. To prevent your teen from leaving, the abuser may become physically abusive to teach your teen “a lesson.”
Signs of Emotional Abuse
If your teen is being emotionally abused, they may exhibit the following signs and symptoms:
Essential Steps in Recovery from Teen Emotional Abuse
Healing from emotional abuse is not easy. When your teen is ready to begin their healing journey, they need to go through several steps, including:
Acknowledging the Issue
The first step of any healing journey is acknowledging the issue. As a parent, you should help your teen accept what has happened to them. Denial can be a hindrance to healing. If you were the one emotionally abusing your teen, apologize and start your own healing journey. If you do not do this, you will pass on your trauma to your teen, creating generational trauma. Be the one to break the cycle of abuse.
Acknowledging the issue helps teens understand that emotional abuse causes as much damage as physical and sexual abuse. Help your teen see that they can overcome the trauma and abuse they have endured.
Building a Support Network
A strong support network can be the difference between overcoming and being consumed by the trauma of emotional abuse. You can help your teen build a strong support system by reaching out to their most trusted friends or family members. Having a support system that understands the veracity of the situation can help your teen heal faster.
A support network goes beyond friends and family. Seek professional help to ensure your teen unpacks and processes all their underlying issues. Talking to someone can help your teen have an outlet for their negative thoughts and feelings. The confidential nature of therapy helps teens build confidence and trust.
Practicing Self-Care
Many people forget that self-care is a crucial part of healing. Simple things like getting enough sleep or eating healthy food can help teens overcome emotional abuse. When your body feels better, your mind will also feel better.
If you want to help your teen overcome emotional abuse, encourage them to do the things they once enjoyed. For example, if your teen enjoys sporting events, take them to the arena so that they can cheer on their favorite team. Self-care will help your teen overcome the trauma of emotional abuse.
Identifying and Avoiding Triggers
As a parent or guardian, you should help your teen identify and avoid triggering situations. You do not want your teen getting re-traumatized. To do this, you need to pay attention to your teen’s behavior and ask about the history of their emotional abuse. Once you have identified their triggers, you can develop coping mechanisms around the triggers.
Developing Healthy Coping Mechanisms
One of the most important parts of healing is developing healthy coping mechanisms. To help your teen deal with difficult emotions, you should help them develop healthy coping mechanisms through art, music, or exercise. Journaling can also give them an outlet for difficult emotions.
Establishing Boundaries and Healthy Relationships
As your teen heals from emotional abuse, they need to learn how to set clear boundaries. They also need to recognize the differences between a healthy and a toxic relationship. If something does not align with your teen’s values and principles, they should learn to say no. Boundaries prevent your teen from being re-victimized.
Teens should also learn to recognize the qualities of a good relationship. Your teen can ask the following questions to gauge whether their romantic or platonic relationship is healthy for them:
These questions can help your teen differentiate between a healthy and toxic relationship.
Focus on Getting Better
The healing journey is long and winding. You should encourage your teen to focus on getting better despite any challenges that might arise along the way. Remind them that healing is not linear. Focusing on the positives can help your teen overcome trauma faster and in a healthy way.
Parental and Guardian Support in Teen Abuse Recovery
How can you, as a parent or guardian, support your teen? The following are some things you can do to help your teen recover:
Teen Emotional Abuse Treatment at NexStep Teen Academy
Getting your teen the help they deserve is the most important thing you can do to help them. Although it does not leave any physical scars, emotional abuse is just as bad as physical abuse. At NexStep Teen Academy’s teen IOP, we offer a variety of treatment options for teens who have experienced abuse. We focus on helping them overcome the trauma caused by such abuse.
The highly experienced staff at our teen PHP and IOP ensures that your teen receives the highest quality of care. We tailor our program to meet your teen’s special needs to ensure a quick recovery. NexStep Teen Academy only employs people who have experience working with teenagers. Teenagers require a different treatment approach than adults. Our goal is to ensure that teens receive appropriate treatment for emotional abuse.
NexStep utilizes various therapeutic approaches for teens who have experienced abuse. During your teen’s enrollment in NexStep’s outpatient program, we utilize a number of evidence-based treatment approaches like:
Along with these, we utilize holistic treatment to help provide a comprehensive approach to our programming. To learn more about how NexStep Teen Academy can help, contact our team today.
Contact NexStep Teen Academy today to get your teen the help they deserve. Our dedicated team will listen to your story and recommend the most appropriate treatment.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If your teen cannot access in-person therapy, they can try online or phone counseling. NexStep Teen Academy offers virtual/online counseling for teens.
To manage triggers, teens can do deep breathing exercises, practice mindfulness, listen to music, and journal.
Long-term effects of emotional abuse include:
Yes, healing can be long and winding. It is normal to feel like you are taking one step forward and two steps back. However, to continue your healing journey, you should remain focused on the goal.