r/CPTSD•
jyylivic

Am I allowed to call it abuse, if parents had it worse?

Question

The abuse I went and am going through is mostly emotional and psychological, a lot of screaming, neglect - emotional and physical, threats and manipulation. It was always very unstable and unsafe, calling cps on each other. There were a few instances of my father physically hurting me by harshly tugging and leaving bruises, but that's all. I have an enmeshed relationship with my mother (weird trauma-bond) and cut contact with my father, as he was always the most terrifying figure in my life.

My mother would often tell me how horrible her parents were, hitting her, controlling her, calling her names, grandpa was an alcoholic. I witnessed my father treating her horribly, I witnessed their arguments, I knew everything about money problems and the divorce. I knew how horrible both sets of grandparents were to both of them, constant physical and psychological abuse, which was normalized in my country.

Logically, they had it worse than me. So it feels like it's my fault if I'm so traumatized by what they did. Especially since people tend to minimize psychological and emotional abuse, so I always minimized it as well to survive. There are other people who had it so much worse, so I don't deserve to call it abuse and feel sorry for myself. It feels like it's my fault I am mentally ill, that I should just grit my teeth and ignore the hurt they cause. I was insanely dissociated all my life, and only recently started feeling my emotions again, so it's all hitting me. Is somebody in a similar situation?

Posted Jul 17, 2025, 8:41 AM UTC

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