Have you ever hurt others before unintentionally? Are you at the end causing others to feel terrible and inferior inside? Do you feel that it’s fun to provoke others by attacking their flaws ? Do you feel that by doing this you will become popular and everyone will feel that you’re really funny ? Or maybe you have always thought that you’re merely joking and maybe the person won’t feel hurt about it?

Or are you at the other end, always getting insulted by others. Always trying to withhold everything that others say. Keep it inside and even accepting whatever others say of you. Sometimes you just laugh and shrug it off but actually inside you’re feeling really terrible. But you don’t dare to tell others because you’re afraid that people will laugh at you ?

Many people don’t realise the difference between teasing and verbal abuse. Some even feel that it’s the same . Actually, there’s a line differentiating these two . In case unintentionally you have became the “bully”, this is what it means as verbal abuse. Verbal abuse includes withholding, bullying, defaming, defining, trivializing, harassing, interrogating, accusing, blaming, blocking, countering, diverting, lying, berating, taunting, putting down, edifying, discounting, threatening, name-calling, yelling and raging. In simpler terms, it means to inflict pain on others, mentally.

Teasing on the other hand is less hurting. They do not involve any personal attacks and even if they do, the feeling would fade off very fast. Teasers would often stop when the “victims” complain that they are hurt and would even apologize for being so mean. They would never carry it too far and their main aim is only to make you laugh and never to attack or insult you in anyway.

The most commonly seen verbal abuse cases are often related to physical appearance. Looks, weight and even age. Often, the victim would always hold it in. And those that have lower confidence level would tend to accept it and even believe that it’s true even if it’s not true. In the end, they feel so bad about themselves that they start to hate themselves. In the end, they might even commit suicide. Yeah. It’s that serious. I’m not exaggerating.

In fact, verbal abuse hurts more than physical abuse and they tend to stay longer. Hence victims take a long time to recover from them. Findings have shown that in the past 25 years, while the general incidence of suicide has decreased, the rate for those between 15 and 24 has tripled. And most of them are due to verbal abuse. 

Hence, I would like to emphasize that it’s important to think before you speak because every little act or statement you speak might affect others in many ways. And unintentionally you might even hurt others . Also, do not carry your teasing too far because some people are more fragile at heart, having a lower confidence level. This continious teasing might lead to depression. 

To everyone out there, never be a verbal abuser and most importantly, never be a victim (:

Credits : VerbalAbuse.com, Mental-Health-Matters.com