Does Verbal abuse Hurt more than Physical abuse?

You know, I heard that too.

Thing is, if you are mentally handicapped, which I was at the time my foster father verbally abused me, it didn't matter to me who he was. I couldn't defend myself from the constant berating and degradation he put me through.

Both physical and verbal abuse are unbearable at times.
Physical as it is painful and leaves evidence. This may perhaps be a little bit less worse than verbal mainly because the pain goes away.
However verbal is invisible. If someone saw you after verbal abuse from someone, they wouldn't know. You'd have to cope on your own. However physical abuse can make friends or family help as it is more noticable.
This, of course, is my own opinion. Only someone who has both abuse on them would know to be honest.

I think they are the same because verbal abuse hurts and you think about it every time you see the person or even a cetain thing.... Physical abuse hurts because its damaging your body and it hurts because someone lashed out, and hit you, not because someone invaded your brain and destroyed your happyness. SO either way it is the same...it just depends whether or not what the person who harmed you (either way) did it at a certain level of harm.

Sometimes verbal abuse can be as bad or worse depending upon whom it comes from. As close friends that know you well that for some reason or another turn on you can do a great deal of harm if they know personal details about you.

As that kind of attack is psychological in basis, and scars like that take much more time to heal.

"Hurtful words are sharper than the sharpest sword"

Yes they are.

My former english teacher taught me that =D

I think verbal abuse can be worse than physical abuse because it's something that can't be seen. Only you know how badly you're hurt. it also takes longer for you to get over it because physical pain can go away but what someone says can keep rewinding and replaying in your mind and your head gets full of everything that you were told.

Verbal scars the heart. Physical can do that, but only when taken to extremes. Fortunately for me, the physical abuse wasn't nearly as bad for me when I was abused than the verbal. I still have nightmares over the verbal 35 years after the fact.

I have had both in my life time they are as bad as each other the only difference is the verbal takes longer to heal..

That's why verbal is worse. It takes longer to heal and there are some like me, who never will heal from the verbal scars inflicted on me.

Sorry to hear that,I was able to get over mine for the most part,the beating did not take long at all,the verbal did,but I forgave my abuser which has healed me a lot.

Verbal abuse is often not recognized as abuse. It can do long term damage.

Yeah in my case, I will never get over my verbal abuse. That's how bad it was. I still have nightmares about it to this day.

I'm not taking your situation lightly by any means, but have ever sought some help with it.?

I went to see 46 psychiatrists and psychologists for it, but most of them kept telling me the same thing, that the damage was so extensive they couldn't help, so I got me a HS tutor and she was the best thing that ever happened for the verbal abuse. She helped me through all parts of it. Now I can handle it, though the nightmares about the verbal abuse will never stop.

Why some people have to abuse and torture others is beyond my comprehension.

Even in milder cases, kids are still learning that the way to get what they want is to verbally attack others. It's deemed ok because no one gets a black eye or stitches, but it's verbal violence.

So sad too.

But sometimes one can be worse than the other.

Physical abuse.. i dunno.. just doesn't effect me much.. verbal abuse.. cuts into me alot more

Yes it hurts way worse than physical, just in a different way than physical, that's why a lot of answers have either said physical is worse or they are both the same. Like I was verbally abused by my foster father over 35 years ago, but I still have nightmares about his verbal abuse.

Both leave scars. I just think verbal abuse scars go deeper and last longer. Both of them are not exceptable no matter what. Any husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, parent, friend, ect who hurts you physically, verbally, emotionally, sexually, mentally or in any other way is an abuser. All of them hurt the person that receives the abuse =(

You are right on about verbal abuse lasting longer, because my verbal abuse ended over 35 years ago and I still have nightmares of my foster fathers verbal abuse.

=( I'm sorry about that! I hate it that some people do that! It makes the world a horrible place...

Physical is far worse IMO. I've unfortunately seen results of some horrific physical abuse, and while verbal abuse is no picnic by any stretch, I don't think that said from one human being to another can compare to physical abuse. What's more is that rarely do you have physical abuse without verbal.

Both are terrible. For those who say thing like verbal abuse only hurts weak people, you obviously don't know what it is like to go through it from someone you try to love and trust, a close family member, spouse, etc.
Physical abuse is not perpetrated by a huge selection of the population. It is also easily punishable in a court.
Verbal abuse can be (and is) perpetrated by husbands, wives, parents, siblings, teachers, peers. And what gets done about it? In most cases, courts are powerless to convict a verbal abuser. The victim is told to get over it, toughen up, grow up, don't be a baby. These things may seem rational to the outsider, but to a person has been a victim of verbal abuse for a long time, those very solutions come across as "you are weak, it is your own fault you get abused", etc.

My foster parents took advantage of my weakened mental state because of my brain damage, and abused me verbally and 35 years after the abuse is done, I still have nightmares of my foster father verbally abusing me.

I'm sorry to hear about that. I dealt with it in school from teachers, and later from my (now ex) wife. I am about as over it all as I am ever going to get, but in certain situations, i feel the pain all over again. People don't seem to understand that if verbal abuse was not so powerful, people would not use it.

It depends on the degree of brutality of the abuse. I have always felt that the written word is more powerful than the spoken one.

Physical abuse is bad but unless severe can heal, mental abuse is there forever.

Yes it is, it's been over 35 years since my verbal abuse stopped and I still have nightmares about my foster father verbally abusing me. Unfortunately for me, I'll be taking that with me to the grave.

You can try to release your mind from these memories. John Bradshaw wrote a great book: reclaiming and championing your inner child. I seen him on TV years ago and I just cannot explain how much he helped me heal my mind from years of abuse, mental and physical. Look it up and give it a try.
http://www.johnbradshaw.com/h...
God Bless

it can be depending on the person. my dad practiced both. and the back hand always hurt worse then the bad word.

Verbal abuse can scar you for life. Physical abuse often heals.

I would say a combination of both is the very worst, but either is very damaging. Coming from someone who grew up in a verbally abusive home, I know how horrible it is. My father new if he hit my mom or me we would leave him, so he hurt us as much with his words as he possibly could. She still should have left him imo.

So she's still with him?