"It Wasn't That Bad": Why You Minimise What Happened coercive control darvo emotional abuse gaslighting it wasn't that bad minimisation minimization perpetrator psychology psychological abuse relationship psychology self-doubt after abuse was it abuse Jul 13, 2026

There's a particular conversation you have with yourself, usually late at night or in the quiet moments when the question surfaces again. You start assembling the case. The things that happened, the way certain conversations went, the person you became around them. For a moment the picture looks cle...

Continue Reading...
DARVO: Why You Ended Up Apologising for Things They Did accountability blame shifting coercive control darvo emotional abuse gaslighting manipulation in relationships perpetrator psychology psychological abuse relationship psychology self-doubt after abuse toxic relationships Jul 06, 2026

There's a conversation you can probably still replay in detail. You went into it with something specific to say, something that had hurt you, and you'd thought about how to say it fairly. Ten minutes later you were the one apologising. You were reassuring them, softening what you'd said, repairing a...

Continue Reading...
Was It Actually Abuse? The Psychology of Self-Doubt After Emotionally Harmful Relationships coercive control coercive relationships cognitive dissonance darvo emotional abuse emotionally abusive relationships gaslighting manipulation in relationships psychological abuse relationship psychology self-doubt after abuse trauma bonding trust your instincts why do i doubt myself May 11, 2026

One of the most consistent things people say after leaving a psychologically harmful relationship is that they weren't sure - and often still aren't sure - whether what they experienced was "bad enough" to be called abuse.

Not because nothing happened, but because what happened was complicated. The...

Continue Reading...