All too often women believe it is a sign of commitment, an expression of love, to endure unkindness or cruelty, to forgive and forget. In actuality, when we love rightly we know that the healthy, loving response to cruelty and abuse is putting ourselves out of harm's way.
Abuse manipulates and twists a childβs natural sense of trust and love. Her innocent feelings are belittled or mocked and she learns to ignore her feelings. She canβt afford to feel the full range of feelings in her body while sheβs being abusedβpain, outrage, hate, vengeance, confusion, arousal. So she short-circuits them and goes numb. For many children, any expression of feelings, even a single tear, is cause for more severe abuse. Again, the only recourse is to shut down. Feelings go underground.
We do not have to be mental health professionals to identify the traits of the possible sociopaths among us.
Forgiveness is created by the restitution of the abuser; of the wrongdoer. It is not something to be squeeeeeezed out of the victim in a further act of conscience-corrupting abuse.
The toxic behaviors were there before you decided to enter into relationships with them. The signs were there. You may have chosen to look the other way, but the signs were there.βPsychotherapist from Type 1 Sociopath