How My Husband Undermines Me
Will magically deflates my enthusiasm over almost anything. He can take away my most hopeful moments in a heartbeat. He can dash my self-confidence while sounding like he really truly cares. I honestly haven’t figured out exactly how he does this, but when I feel the crushing blow next time, I will recognize it for what it is – another attempt to make me feel smaller than I am.
Undermining includes the incidents in which he says things to our boys like, “Go to your room so you don’t have to see your mother act like a child.” He also undermines me as a mother when he says “Yes” after I’ve said “No” or vice-verse.
How to React to Undermining
Other Types of Verbal Abuse
- Abuse Disguised as a Joke
- Abusive Anger
- Accusing & Blaming
- Blocking and Diverting
- Countering
- Denial
- Deprivation or Withholding
- Discounting
- Forgetting
- Judging and Criticizing
- Name Calling
- Ordering & Demanding
- Threatening Behavior And Words
- Trivializing
Based on the book The Verbally Abusive Relationship
by Patricia Evans, ISBN 1558503048, Adams Media, February 2003 and my experiences with verbal abuse.