Psychological violence

What is it?

Psychological violence describes all forms of emotional damage and injuries of a person, for example due to direct psychological-verbal threats, insults or intimidating and controlling behaviour.

Psychological violence has many different dimensions including verbal humiliation and insults, abuse, threats, imputations or harassment. Slander, ignorance or character assassination and conscious false statements about a person are also a form of psychological violence. This form of violence often goes hand-in-hand with extreme jealousy, controlling and domineering behaviour.

In most cases, psychological violence is perpetrated by intimate partners, ex-partners or family members.

Emotional violence can also manifest itself when the woman involved is ridiculed in public or is constantly observed or controlled by her partner, acquaintances or her family.

In many cases, psychological violence is perpetrated subtly, and is only partly visible to others and/or is hardly perceivable to them.