I've read the various threads on the topic here. And I've read stuff online about the topic. But honestly, I do not understand it! Could someone plz define it and maybe provide examples of how WT does this and hpw it happens in abusive relationships? I'm just not getting it! How is it different from emotional or mental abuse?
plz define ambient abuse
by losingit 4 Replies latest jw friends
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AnneB
To begin, Google the definition of "ambient." You will find that it means "all around you" or "related to your immediate surroundings." Think of it as the air you breathe and then you'll see that it's not a category of abuse like "physical", "mental," or "emotional." Ambient abuse is the general atmosphere of your environment, the stuff that happens all the time, so often and so subtly that you don't even notice it, just like you don't notice the air that you breathe.
Now go back to your first post, yes, the one you yourself wrote, and read it with the above information in mind. Your first paragraphs describe "ambient abuse." There's more to it, of course; this is simply a starting point for your comprehension.
When you live daily with people saying or thinking negative things about you, when people routinely undermine you or attribute thoughts and actions to you that you never even contemplated, when information (real or imagined) is shared about you and it affects your relationships, you are living in an environment of ambient abuse. When people make excuses or give alternative explanations instead of clarifying or speaking with accuracy, that's ambient abuse. The bottom line is that any time anyone tries to control or manipulate you or the circumstances of anything involving you, it's ambient abuse. It should not be done. You have the natural right to accurate information. You have the natural right to act on that information as you see fit even if your decisions or actions are not the ones others would choose for you.
Does this help?
AB
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LoisLane looking for Superman
LosingIt , I read your post earlier and frankly, I did not know what you were talking about or asking.
AnneB , I saw your name and since I hadn't seen it before, I thought you might be a newbie. You aren't, but instead, I read your answer.
I had never heard of ambient abuse. After reading your Goodle answer, I realized my daughter and I have lived that way all of our lives.
We do not live that way anymore. We gave up WT and abusive relatives and friends.
It is good to have made it out and to enjoy living life now.
LoisLane
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losingit
AnneB ... that's a great way of breaking it down. I need tospend some time thinking about the topic. One of the things I really struggled with in.my last relationship was this feeling that I was crazy, but I knew I wasn't. I felt like I was constantly being told this, but then I could not pinpoint exact words. Sometimes I think I confused the abuse from the rreligion and the resulting cognitive dissonance with my marriage. But thenI talk to my mother and she confirms that I was treated that way in subtle ways. She witnessed some of it. It's odd. I can't wrap my head around it.
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KateWild
This is the first I have heard of ambient abuse, it is very intresting. I have learned quite a bit from this thread thank you. Kate xx