Escaping Emotional Abuse with Psychologist and Victim Advocate Beverly Engel

While physical abuse is an attack on the body, emotional abuse is a deep and insidious assault on the psyche and the soul. It causes the victim to question the truth about him or herself - to doubt one's worthiness as a person, one's ability to satisfy a partner, even the capacity to love.

Today's special guest Beverly Engel is an internationally recognized psychotherapist and an acclaimed advocate for victims of toxic relationships and sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. She is the author of 23 self-help books, including 3 bestselling books on emotional abuse: The Emotionally Abusive Relationship, The Emotionally Abused Woman, and Encouragements for the Emotionally Abused Woman. Engel is a licensed marriage and family therapist, and has been practicing psychotherapy for 40 years.

She is also author of the forthcoming book, Escaping Emotional Abuse: Healing from the Shame You Don’t Deserve. She writes about the insidious damage of emotional abuse – a form of domestic violence - and the forms it can take (such as saying or implying that you are ugly, a bad parent, stupid, incompetent, or that no one else could love you).  Once a person finally realizes they are being emotionally abused, it is debilitating shame that prevents them from first creating the emotional armor necessary to shield one’s identity from abusive messages, and then stepping away from the relationship.

Beverly shares the Five-Step Program she offers in her therapy practice, which has helped her victims overcome the shame of Emotional Abuse, and will also serve as a guide for anyone who provides services to the emotionally abused.