A Group In The U.K. Wants “Psychological Abuse” Made A Crime

There are groups in England and Wales who deal with domestic abuse victims who want “psychological abuse” to be criminalized, according to the BBC. Even taking into consideration that the Brits don’t have the same tradition of, or reverence for freedom of speech as we do, it’s hard to believe such a law would be enforceable.

The groups campaigning for the law use phrases like “coercive control” to describe the abuse, but the words used to describe it (“excessively jealous”, “controlling what a victim wears”, and “preventing the victim from seeing family and friends”) seem to me to be difficult to define. What’s the “acceptable” amount of jealousy in a relationship? When does “not liking your friends” morph into abuse? In a statistic that surprised me, 94% of domestic violence victims in the UK said that mental abuse was worse than physical abuse.

What do you think, is verbal/mental abuse worse than physical abuse? Let us know in the comment section below.