What is Abuse?

What is abuse? Abuse is told to be beating, bleeding, bruising, and burning. Abuse is said to be hurtful, painful, and tearful. Abuse isn’t just about physically hurting someone. Abuse is said to be what it’s not. In a teenager’s world, abuse is all mental.

Abuse takes place when the victim doesn’t even realize it is happening. When they finally realized they were abused, the damage has already been done. Abuse not only takes a toll on the mind, but the entire body. They don’t think straight, and they make decisions that could affect them the rest of their life.

Abuse is lies. Lies are told to “protect” feelings, so the truth can’t hurt. Lies are abuse because when a lie is told, it is for a reason. Feelings aren’t in others concern, and they just care about what is best from them. In most cases, lies are the abuser’s last resort. They don’t seem to care what it takes to get what they want. Teenager’s act on impulse, and don’t think about what is happening until it’s too late. Abuse is lies because knowing they aren’t worth the truth hurts the victim the most.

Abuse is verbal. Abuse is what a loved one says, and how they say it. Constantly telling the victim that they’re not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, or fast enough makes them feel like a piece of trash and disposable. At this point, the victim is convinced that all the ones they care about, don’t care back. How words are said is an impact to the point the abuser is trying to get across. When victims gets yelled at and told they’re hated, makes them feel like a slap to the face would feel so much better. Abuse is verbal.

Abuse is pressure. Victims of abuse get pressured into making decisions they don’t want to participate in. Classmates, co-workers, and boyfriends/girlfriends have a persuasive way of making them think the bad decisions they make will make them “cool”. Being a teenager can make it difficult to say no to peers.



I have an older sister. She got pregnant her senior year in high school. She made a few bad decisions which will follow her for the rest of her life. She is currently twenty-one and has a daughter who is three. Her child’s father is still with her and they all live under the same roof. Through out their whole relationship, he has been unemployed. Leaving her to pay all the bills, finish school, and support her new-born child while he runs the streets. I see her almost every day. She looks run down, worn out and dead beat tired. Not an ounce of happiness remains in her. All because she made one decision that she thought would make her “cool”. Abuse is pressure


Abuse is all mental; it isn’t what is seen, but what is felt. When teenagers are abused, it changes who they are whether they know it or not. Although all social groups have their own outlook on abuse, they are outsiders unless they experience it personally. That is the explanation to why abuse has many definitions.