It's true that many people with epilepsy become victims of emotional, verbal, and mental abuse. You don't have to be hit for it to be abuse. I lied to myself dozens of times thinking that I wasn't being abused by one of my aunts since she didn't hit me.
I've had epilepsy since I was a kid and my mom and grandma were very protective of me. Thinking back, there were numerous times when I felt as if I were treated like porcelain. However, thy loved me unconditionally. I thought my aunts, uncles, and cousins did too.
But it took the deaths of my mom and grandma in 2023 to realize that it wasn't completely true. Emotional and mental abuse isn't always obvious. It can start as jokes (at the victim's expense) or words that seem like constructive criticism. For me, it started with being criticized because I snored at night. It led to being yelled at and embarrassed for personal issues.
Anyway if you suspect that you're really just experiencing emotional or mental abuse, here are some signs that you could be correct:
1. Yelling, name-calling, and use of derogatory words towards you.
2. Making threats to hurt you, damage your personal items, or put you in situations you don't want to be a part of.
3. Embarrassing you in front of people you either do or don't know.
4. Forbidding you from seeing friends, working, going to school, or even having access to money.
5. You develop the feeling that you can't be yourself because normal people don't laugh or like the kind of things you do.
6. Being blamed for the abuser's short-comings or for things you know that you don't ever do.
7. You start lying to yourself that it's not abuse since you were never physically hurt.
8. Being brainwashed into thinking that you're not loved and that people only want what they can get from you.
If you experience any of these, make a safety plan and get away from the person. Any kind of abuse is never your fault. Don't lie to yourself by thinking it'll stop eventually because it won't.
