Worse Than Physical Abuse
And probably worse. Unlike being beaten physically, being beaten emotionally doesn't leave a visible bruise only an emotional one. This is why its not viewed as a crime. There has to be visible evidence for something to be treated as a crime. Meanwhile, so many people are abused like this.
The definition of Emotional Abuse:
"the debasement of a person's feelings that causes the individual to perceive himself or herself as inept, not cared for, and worthless."
In other words emotional abuse happens when someone is being constantly put down and insulted. Lets just say hypothetically that someones mother called her daughter a "stupid lazy *****, who's just like that useless alcholic father of hers, and who will never amount to anything."
The thing about emotional abuse is that eventually the daughter being abused will begin to believe that she is nothing but a "stupid lazy *****, who's just like that useless alcholic father of hers, and who will never amount to anything."
If she does, then what happens to the motivation to be anything better than that?
This is worse than physical abuse, long after the bruise left by a punch has faded, the scars left by being told you're worthless would still be there.