Seeing forgiveness as emotional self-care may sound strange. Especially if you experienced an abuser telling you to forgive when they haven’t changed. Forgiveness can be premature if done too early. Refocusing on you and your emotions is an important step in healing. Allow yourself to feel anger and find ways to recover from the pain you experience. This frees you to determine anything you want to change about yourself or your relationships. Therefore, forgiveness should not

Emotional abuse healing takes longer than most physical abuse injuries. Every survivor I worked with said that emotional abuse was more difficult to recover from. Research indicates that it has long-term effects on mental and physical health. Physical abuse adds to emotional injuries, such as loss of self-worth when your partner hurts you. Emotional injury includes low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Coercive Relationships goes into deta

Leaving or staying—there is no decision that fits everyone. Each person should consider their circumstances. Trust what you see regarding your partner’s behavior and follow your intuition. The following information helps clarify your situation.

Time Out and Broken Record are the last two conflict management skills. As with any assertive skill, assess your safety if someone has a history of being abusive.

Anger Starvation and Positive Admission are two constructive ways of dealing with another’s anger, disappointment, or frustration.

This fourth blog in my assertive communication series shows why these skills are important and how to be constructive in their use.

Giving and receiving positive expressions are the next skills in my assertive communication series that began with Assertive Beliefs. It covers two of four feedback skills. Each article in this series includes exercises for learning and practicing assertive skills. Some do not think of giving and receiving positive feedback as being assertive. However, assertiveness is not just about taking a stand when there is disagreement. It also enables us to express the fullness of our

Expressing Emotions and Empathy is the second of the Assertive Communication Skills series. They complete the self-defining skills along with requests and refusals covered earlier.

This assertive communication skills series begins with two self-defining skills: assertive request and assertive refusal.

Assertive Beliefs is the seventh blog in my empowerment series for victims of partner abuse. You must believe you have the right to be assertive before using skills: this article builds that foundation. It covers definitions, benefits, beliefs that may interfere, an assertiveness skills list, and steps to work on the belief that you have the right to stand up for yourself.