As Holistic Health Practitioners, the Faculty at Healing Hands School of Holistic Health understands the negative impact toxic relationships can have on one’s health. By employing a heart-centered approach to education, Healing Hands Instructors model healthy interactions and set firm limits on acceptable classroom behavior. By creating a safe, respectful environment, they ensure that all students are empowered to learn, make mistakes, and grow throughout their educational journey.
Being subjected to repeated stress, fear, arguments, unkind criticism and manipulation can dramatically impact one’s emotional health. Although psychological abuse is often considered less severe than physical, all forms of abuse can have devastating physical and emotional effects. In addition to injuries from physical assault, abuse victims may suffer from chronic stress, tension, pain, gastric disorders, eating problems and psychosomatic issues. Abuse is also tied to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, addictions, and post traumatic stress disorders.
So, what happens to Students outside the classroom? How can they learn to recognize abusive behavior and set boundaries before victimization can occur? At Healing Hands, we believe the answer is education and awareness. Click here to read our recent Blog – How to Nurture Healthy Relationships, and read on to familiarize yourself with several common characteristics of abusive relationships:
- Physical violence. When someone uses force to get his or her way such as hitting, slapping, grabbing, shoving or blocking you from leaving.
- Dishonesty. Withholding information, lying and gaslighting (changing stories) to keep information from being shared. Dishonesty also includes when one person steals from another.
- Intimidation. Trying to control aspects of the other person’s life by making threats, or through menacing comments or behavior. This includes attempt to keep his or her partner from friends and family by threatening violence or a break-up.
- Disrespect. When someone makes fun of the opinions and interests of the other person or destroys something that belongs to and is valued by the person.
- Hostility. One person vents their anger on another, picking fights or antagonizes another. This may lead to one person changing his or her behavior to avoid upsetting the other.
- Control. One person makes all the decisions and tells the other what to do, what to wear, or with whom they may spend time. Unreasonably jealousy, and/or attempts to isolate the other person from his or her friends and family.
- Humiliation. – Yelling or screaming at you in public is a ploy intended to make you submissive and to control you in front of others. This is not acceptable under any circumstance and should be recognized as abusive.
- Verbal Insults – While it’s natural to occasionally loose our temper in an argument, that never excuses the use of foul language or name calling. Verbal abuse ranges from insulting one’s looks, job or intelligence to blasting one’s competence, or value. Verbal abuse is often accompanied by foul language, but its intention is to diminish one’s self-esteem so they become compliant and reliant on the abuser.
- Manipulation – Abusers are skilled manipulators who often succeed at convincing another that their physical or verbal outbursts are the result of misbehavior on their part. The aim is to make one doubt their own self-worth. That’s why most victims continue to excuse or forgive this kind of behavior.
- Calculated Outbursts – When a person only demeans you, yells at you, or hits you in private. Although they may attempt to convince you that they have no control over their abusive outbursts, they never lose control in front of others or in public. Calculated outbursts are just another of the Abusers tools for manipulation and should not be tolerated. Let the abuser know you won’t be spoken to in that manner and leave the scene immediately whenever possible.
Healing Hands School of Holistic Health has been serving residents in SoCal for over 26 years. To date, we’ve prepared more than 7,000 students for rewarding careers in Massage Therapy and can do the same for You! To find out more, visit us on-line at www.HealingHandsSchool.com or call us at (949) 305-2722 in Laguna Hills, or (760) 746-9364 in Escondido or at (858) 505-1100 in San Diego.