Surviving emotional abuse means learning not to share things that upset you for fear of being blamed & shamed and feeling even worse. And also learning not to share anything that made you feel good about yourself for fear of having them bring you down. In the end, you just don’t share anything.

You close your heart off to the world and become emotionally isolated. There are people around but you still feel lonely. There are good people in your life that genuinely care about you but you still feel invisible. Your trauma prevents you from letting people in so you don’t find support even in the places where it would exist. You don’t form emotional bonds even with the people in your life that are capable of reciprocating. You feel isolated and alone even with people that the narcissistic abuser has no power over. The abuse leaves you guarded and fearful. The toxic shame follows you into every situation.

Emotional abuse is as damaging and evil as any other form of abuse.