How many people grew up in abusive households?

[Techno-Druid]

I experienced a fair amount of verbal abuse from my mother as a young child. She struggled with alcoholism and hated her job, so she took out a lot of it on me. Can't say I really blame my her though, she wasn't ready to be a mother when she had me and obviously others have grown in much more abusive conditions than I could ever imagine, but I just like to reminisce about my life experiences.

All in all, I would say I went through more neglect than abuse as a child.

[Azadina]

Complete neglect and carelessness from my fathers side. Neither was physically abusive atleast.

[Underverse]

Idk. It depends on what you classify as abuse. My parents spanked me sometimes, locked my in my room, yelled at me. But they were not at all abusive parents. I loved them both dearly.

[breadisfunny]

my biological parents took drugs and drank/smoked when i was in the womb. does that count?
ended up being born quite early because of it.

[Gamdwelf]

All parenting is abuse in one form or another.

[adventurer]

google Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)

read books like:
"The Narcissistic Family: Diagnosis and Treatment" by Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman (Author), Robert M. Pressman (Author)
"The Wizard of Oz and Other Narcissists: Coping with the One-Way Relationship in Work, Love, and Family" by Eleanor Payson

[Klingers]

my biological parents took drugs and drank/smoked when i was in the womb. does that count?

If it was your dad, nope.

[breadisfunny]

If it was your dad, nope.

it was both of them. i was told they were drug addicts and my mother smoked.

[Radaney]

Yes, up to 10 years old.

[TITAN308]

By MMO-C standards? I'm sure they were.

By normal people standards? Not at all.

[Halyon]

Yep. Stepfather was a violent creeper bastard, mum was a control-freak. Was some pretty crapshooty years.

I can barely stand to be in the same room as said stepfather, he was by far the worst. Mum's toned down a peg and we get along fairly well nowadays.

[kail]

Won't claim a perfect childhood, but no I wasn't abused.

[Mormolyce]

For those people who are unsure about it: if you'd grown up in an abusive household, you'd know.

[Auxora]

Unfortunately I had the misfortune of it. My dad's parents died unexpectedly in a car wreck and it really messed him up mentally. It made him physically/mentally/verbally abusive to us kids and my mom. Things were different back then in the 70's and it was much more brushed under the rug. Today, he'd have been thrown in jail I'm sure, since my school in 2nd grade even called my parents in questioning some seriously massive bruises on me but nothing came of it. And my mom once in a while had to wear the dark sunglasses for a black eye from him.

That said, others have/had worse I know. I had 3 cousins who I later learned had a super-abusive stepdad who physically and sexually abused them horribly. Only 1 of the 3 is still alive, the other 2 died young from alcoholism/drug-abuse dealing with it. And the last one is more of an addict and mentally ill now than the other 2 but hasn't died somehow. I had quite a few friends that grew up in various degrees of abusive households as well.

So long-story short, based on my experience and those I know, if it's just verbal abuse and an occasional spanking or grounding, there are lots of people that have been through that. It can be a lot worse though, so it's something to keep in relative perspective. And regardless, my advice would be to just make a focus of your life to be a better parent than you had, and be successful and overcome what you've been through. It's not an easy path but I've seen many people overcome those things with hard work and focus. It comes down to not letting it ruin or define your life, or worse yet ruin your own kid's lives if you end up being that kind of parent yourself.

[Talby]

Yes but I don't feel comfortable talking about it to strangers over the internet. Let's just say the mere act of thinking about it made me start crying.

[Super Kami Dende]

Mine was pretty brutal. My Father wouldn't lay a hand on my Mother or Sister so if they pissed him off he just channeled his Rage towards me.

[Swizzington]

Mentally, yes. Physically, only occasionally.

Alcoholic father, beaten-down mother, pretty standard stuff.

[Putin-Chan]

By MMO-C standards? I'm sure they were.

By normal people standards? Not at all.

I'd love to know what you consider to be the 'mmoc standard' of an abusive household.

[Fat Mac]

Yes but I don't feel comfortable talking about it to strangers over the internet. Let's just say the mere act of thinking about it made me start crying.

sorry to hear, buddy.. it can stay with you for a long time