Blog posts, news articles, and other resources from The Center • A Place of HOPE
Explore how social media filters impact mental health by shaping self-image, fueling comparison, and affecting self-esteem. Learn ways to navigate social media mindfully for a healthier, more positive online experience.
Gaslighting can undermine your sense of reality. Learn to recognize the signs, understand its impact, and discover empowering strategies to protect yourself and rebuild confidence in your perceptions and experiences.
When we talk about abuse, it’s often physical or sexual abuse that comes to mind. However, emotional abuse is more prevalent than either of these. The National Domestic Violence Hotline reports that 95% of their calls relate to emotional abuse[1]. What is emotional abuse? The National Domestic Violence Hotline...
You’ve probably heard of the term “narcissist.” The formal term to describe a narcissist is “narcissistic personality disorder,” and it’s an official mental health diagnosis that’s included in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual. Not everyone with narcissistic personality disorder is abusive, and people can and do heal from this condition. However,...
Emotional invalidation dismisses or minimizes someone’s feelings, often causing deep psychological harm. It can manifest through criticism, sarcasm, or outright denial of emotions. Repeated invalidation can damage self-esteem, leading to anxiety, depression, and difficulty forming healthy relationships. Recognizing this behavior is the first step toward emotional healing and setting healthier boundaries.
When most people think of abuse, they think of physical or sexual abuse. They may imagine a parent hitting or molesting their child. Or a domestic violence situation in which one partner physically harms the other. But there is another type of abuse that can be just as damaging: emotional...
Attachment theory highlights the importance of a strong, healthy attachment in childhood. This important attachment comes at the earliest stages of life to a parent or primary caregiver, usually a mother. This first, fundamental attachment, or relationship, sets the stage for all relationships going forward.
Loss produces pain, so using the term “numbing out” is not a coincidence. So many of the survival strategies used by abused children are meant to do just that—provide a way to numb the pain. You may think you’re avoiding the pain, but you’re not. The pain is still there,...
When you were growing up, you may have been told over and over, in a variety of ways, that you weren’t good enough, smart enough fast enough, thin enough, or just plain not enough of anything to please your parents. In order to numb this crushing sense of failure and...
One of the core traits of a dependent personality is difficulty accepting challenging or disturbing truths about self or others out of a need to maintain the status quo.
Resilient as children are, childhood abuse, in its various forms, can decimate a child's sense of self. Here are ten questions to consider when processing the struggles associated with childhood abuse.
Sheila sat on her bed and cried out in frustration. What was she going to do? The fear she'd been carrying around inside for the past six months finally was realized. He's made it clear that if she wanted to get her promotion, she'd have to "cooperate" with him. Sheila...
Any kind of abuse, emotional abuse included, is an attack on a person's sense of self. It demeans and controls that person through words or actions, devaluing that person and ultimately elevating the abuser.
“So you really think you can get that job, huh? What a joke! Why in the world would anyone want to hire you?” Jeff’s older brother sneered at him with disgust.“Well, I guess because I’m a hard worker and I’m willing to learn,” Jeff responded angrily, feeling that familiar knot...
“Bill is such a great guy!” Carly smiled and made some sort of neutral comment. It did absolutely no good to dispute the evidence of Bill’s obvious charm. He was engaging, witty, energetic, and charismatic. People liked him. She knew the feeling. When Carly first met Bill, she was overwhelmed...
Spiritual abuse is used as a way to manipulate and control, and it usurps divine authority in order to promote self, which is the opposite of what God does.
As a professional counselor treating eating disorders for over twenty-five years, I am very concerned about the often over-looked issue of emotional abuse. For many years I have noticed that the focus of abuse, even the concept of abuse, has centered around the physical beatings, outward neglect, and sexual invasion...
One of the deepest needs of children is consistency, including the certain knowledge that they are unconditionally accepts and valued by those who love them. Small children crave the repetitive, constant nature of certain stories in which the same words or phrases are used over and over again. Children learn...
"*" indicates required fields
The whole person approach to treatment integrates all aspects of a person’s life: