Escape Sabotage - Blog Posts

Did your abusive parents continually imply or say outright, that you're a burden not only on them, but also on all other people you interact with?

I had my parents warn me every time I was leaving the house that I was a nuisance and to not allow other people to 'feed me' because then I would be eating somebody else's food. There was a few times where I accepted a ride from my friend's parents, because I didn't dare to ask my own parents, and when they found out, they were outraged, furious and went on this big tirade about how I owe them gas money, how I spent resources that weren't mine, and was now in debt to those people, and they, my parents now had to go and make up for that debt (for the friend's parents, it was a 3 minute detour to pick me up, they were already driving their own kid).

I was discouraged from going anywhere because of how big of a burden I was on those people, and if I wanted to go to a friend's house, they would get mad and ask 'why do you have to go there, aren't we good enough for you', it was mind-boggling.

However it did force me, as a child, to continually believe I have to be extremely useful; at every house I went, I made a gift for them so they wouldn't be mad at me, and to pay my dues that I owe them for being at their place. I also didn't dare to ask for food or drinks anywhere because I believed that would make me a burden and put me in debt, and rides were considered basically unrepayable, and I had to depend on my parents for them, who would use them for blackmail every time. (you have to do whatever I say for 2 weeks, if you want that 15 minutes ride to the train station).

I only realized recently that they actively worked on making me feel despised and burdensome in every place I ever went, not only at my own home, and that it's the reason I never visit other people's houses anymore, and stick to myself in fear of being unwelcome.

abusive parents will act like the world is insanely dangerous place where you get shot on sight as soon as you make a slightest mistake or displease anyone, when in reality the only place where this happens is your parents house

Things abusers do to sabotage you from leaving, or ‘Why you can’t just leave’:

Parental

convince you that you couldn’t survive without them and you wouldn’t be able to support yourself or make it out there alone

refuse to teach you survival skills, find excuses like 'you’re too clumsy, you’re not capable, you wont be able to do this’

convince you of 'catastrophic events’ that would take place if you were out there; homelessness, starvation, social rejection, failing at everything, financial struggles, kidnapping, murder

convince you that the world is a scary place and you’d be a failure and dead 'in the real world’

traumatize you to the point where you struggle to get thru the day, which now also makes it seem like you wouldn’t be able to make it on your own

talk you out of finding work, tell you about awful things that would happen to you if you went and found a job, try to make you to 'work for them’ or at least in the close area

if you find work, they claim a part or entirety of your income, making sure you don’t have escape money

regularly make you feel ashamed of not being able to be independant, and letting you know that only people who are able to be independant deserve to have freedom and place out in the real world

guilt-trip you to feel like you owe them caretaking because they raised you, so you’re owing them to stay and take care of them instead of living your own life

Emotional

complain about how 'everyone abandons them’ in order to make you feel like you’re just 'one of the bad ones who betrayed them’ if you think about leaving

every time you try to leave, they overwhelm you with a new incident, sickness or drama that makes it seem like you’re abandoning them in the middle of a tragedy

act overly attached to you, making sure you know that if you left, they wouldn’t know what to do without you, and they’d be heartbroken, but still they refuse to respect your boundaries

convince you that you’re “all they’ve got”, you’re special and unique to them, only you can understand and help them

love-bomb you until you’re attached and bonded to them to the point where leaving feels unimaginably painful because you’d be losing your closest person in the world

begging, pleading, acting like they gave you no reason to leave, promising to change, promising to do anything you’ve wanted to happen for a long time, making you feel like things are just about to get good and like they regret everything bad they’ve ever done

launching an attack on your persona, pointing out every time you did something 'bad’ and insisting that you’re actually the worst of the two, so you can’t blame them for anything

guilt trips; reminding you of everything they’ve done for you and how ungrateful you are, reminding you of all of the nice things you’ve said about them before, asking if it ever meant anything, accusing you of being heartless if you go, of never loving them, of mistreating them, accusing you of being toxic, deciding you’re hurting them on purpose if you leave

deciding you’re leaving because of their specific problem/situation/disability/illness that you’ve always been considerate and supportive about (another guilt trip)

say it’s “your fault they’ll never get better” with whatever you were helping them with

deciding you only want to leave because of your unhealthy trust issues or 'you push people away’ or 'misinterpret things because of your trauma’ and asking you to be honest with yourself

asking you to explain in detail why you feel the need to leave, only to attack your reasoning and explain it all away and minimize it to make it seem like you have no good reason for leaving

tell you that 'nobody will ever love you again’ if you leave

threaten to expose your most vulnerable secrets if you leave

threaten to hurt themselves if you leave

Psychological

gaslight you into doubting whether you’re abused, to the point where you feel like you’re exaggerating, going insane, remembering things wrong, and unsure if the problem is you or them

time an event of abuse specifically when you’re trying to work on something, or you’re immensely stressed and trying to meet a deadline, so you’d be too overwhelmed with fear/anger/grief, and can’t make your work in time

regularly having intense violent or dramatic reactions to your harmless behaviour, making you feel like you can’t predict what they’ll do if you leave or how that could end for you

support your codependency on them, or financially support your addiction, so you feel tied to them and have to go back to them in order to feel normal again

undermine and trash your work, imply or outright say your work is stupid, meaningless, badly done, and not worth doing, trying to discourage you from working

verbally assault you and criticize your work to the point where you start to feel anxious and upset whenever you’re working, making work a trauma trigger for you

punish you for 'lying to them’ if you fail to mention something, making it clear that you will get hurt every time you make any move they don’t like, which makes it even more scary to leave

threaten to make a suicide attempt if you leave

threaten to hurt you if you leave

threaten to report you and try to get you imprisoned for a real or imagined crime if you leave

threaten to have you admitted to a mental institution (or any other kind of institution) where you’ll be even more controlled

threatening your family members, loved ones, friends, and/or pets, saying horrid things they would do to them if you dared to disobey or leave

threaten to find you and drag you back and hurt you if you try to leave

say outright they’re going to kill you if you ever leave, or that they’d rather have you dead than gone

Social Isolation

create insecurities in your behaviour, repeatedly imply or claim you’re too loud, obnoxious, sensitive, crazy, stupid, clueless, demanding, nagging, until you’re worried that everyone is secretly judging you and the world feels against you

take apart your appearance until you feel too insecure and lose confidence in socializing or meeting new people, constantly feeling like you need to 'fix yourself’ first

demean and condemn your personality, appearance, social standing, finances, capabilities, to the point where they decide you can’t do any better than them and you should feel lucky anyone is tolerating you at all

inflict punishments on you for socializing or hanging out with new people; break your things, throw jealous tantrums, ask why they’re not enough for you, go thru your things, rage

violate your privacy and take away things you need in order for them to control when you’re allowed to have them

smear-campaign you; spread lies about what you were like to them so everyone sides with them, and blames you and tells you what to do (exactly what the abuser wants you to do)

turn your family members and friends against you, and make sure they’ll be unnaccepting of you and refuse to help you if you try to leave

Physical

Physically assaulting you if you do something they don’t want you to do, making it clear they’re going to hurt you for any attempt at leaving them as well

Physically assault you if you try, or say you’re going to leave

Inflict injuries on you that will prevent you from working/being independent

Stalking, making it known they can always find you and seek revenge if you dare to leave

Influencing other people to stalk you and let him know where you are and what you’re doing; making you feel like you’re always being watched and always surrendered by their influence

hurt themselves physically if you make an attempt, or even say that you’re leaving

attempt suicide if you make an attempt of leaving

attempt at murder if you try to leave

Financial

create and maintain a financial situation where they are the only one having income, and they’re able to control how much money you get to spend

withhold financial knowledge from you so you’d be clueless about their finances, and managing finances in general (you can’t get an idea of how much money it takes to get thru a month)

refuse to give you your right to keep your money separately from theirs

create financial trouble that you have to solve, taking up all of your savings in the process

take your money without asking, and the amount you’d never consent to, and they give you excuses and pretend it was 'necessary’

accuse you of 'spending irresponsibly’ as an excuse to confiscate or control the money you have on your person (or in your account)

throw a fit if they find out you have any money on you that they’re not aware of/have approved of (if you borrow or win or earn money that they didn’t give you)

make sure you’re overwhelmed with tasks and problems and emotional trauma, to the point where you don’t have a chance to get out and find a job, or go and look for resources for getting out of abuse

stand against you getting more education, or starting any new activities with people around you (making sure you don’t get any social connections that could lead to a job)

get you fired from a job by spreading lies or calling in and harassing the employer about you

forcing you to spend any money they know you have saved up, so you’d have no money to plan escape

It is NOT EASY to leave, and statistically it takes several attempts to leave an abusive situation. Be aware that it’s hard because they’re sabotaging your every step, not because you’re not doing enough. Abusers often wont show their abusive side until they’re absolutely sure that you have nowhere else to live, and no other place to go. All of the things on this list are psychologically damaging, and terrifying to live thru. All of this is abuse. Nobody has the right to tell you this is your fault. Keep trying. Keep fighting.

If you’re struggling to leave an abusive situation, here’s an article on How to Leave an Abuser.

Abusive parents will program you so extensively, that when you’re asked:

‘What have your parents done to you?’

the only thing you know how to answer is:

‘They gave me the roof over my head and clothed me and fed me.’

Because that’s whats repeated to you almost every day of your life to be grateful for, you don’t have the words to describe the devastating abuse and hatred, because they don’t want you to have the words for it. All they teach you to say is ‘I’m grateful and it could have been so much worse’.

That’s how nobody can ever find out about the abuse. They make sure the children won’t know how to answer even if asked.