Emotional abuse is literally like brain washing in that it systematically wears away the victim's self-confidence, sense of self-worth, trust in their own perceptions, and selfconcept.

Whether it is done by constant criticizing, patronizing, intimidation, or under the form of "guidance," "teaching", or "advice," the results are mostly similar. Ultimately, the recipient of abuse loses all sense of self and remnants of personal value.

Emotional abuse grazes to the very core of a person, creating scars that can be far deeper and more lasting than physical ones. In fact there is research that demonstrates this effect of emotional abuse. The insults, insinuations, criticism and accusations slowly eat away at the victim's self-esteem until he is incapable of judging the situation realistically.

-You may be experiencing emotional abuse if someone: monitors you constantly, unfairly accuses you of being unfaithful, prevents you from counting on anybody else than the abusers very own society, frightens you, take control on your own monetary expenses, humiliates and decides things for you that you should decide. And yes, what a life!

In todays world there are different types of abusers, in which some are affecting only a limited number of people and some are dangerously affecting thousands by misuse of their authority.

The current popular issue, "Spiritual abuse" comes up in religious perspectives and actually the term seems to have made an appearance in the medical literature in 1998, with an additional citation called "Spiritual terrorism".

Yes, they do call it a kind of terrorism due to its affection size, which is probably because of being more dangerous than a mass murder! Religious or spiritual abuse refers to abuse administered under the guise of religion, including harassment or humiliation, and thus possibly resulting in deep psychological trauma.

Spiritual abuse occurs when a person in religious authority or a person with a unique spiritual practice misleads and maltreats another person in the name of Allah or in the mystery of any spiritual concept.

Moreover, religious abuse may also include misuse of religion for selfish, secular, or ideological ends such as the abuse of a clerical position, by a retired or an active preacher. Which in fact, the person you think as a preacher may actually be the person who is abusing that authority by scenarios, lies, dreams, delusions, hallucinations, or sensory perceptions caused by cerebral derangement.

Spiritual abuse often refers to an abuser using spiritual or religious rank in taking advantage of the victim's spirituality by putting the victim in a state of unquestioning obedience to this abusive authority or cult. Dr.Purcell, in 1998, has reported in a medical literature and defined ¨Spiritual abuse¨ as the act of making people believe--whether by stating or merely implying--that they are going to be punished in this life and/or tormented in hell-fire forever for failure to live a good enough life to earn admission to heaven.

Moreover, spiritual terrorism is the most extreme form of spiritual abuse, which in itself is a serious mental health problem.¨ Indiscriminate abuse and the misuse of a religious authority is an essential part of the very foundation and functions of an ever increasing number of ¨religious groups¨, from every religion.

Today who are engaging in the most insidious form of hyper-authoritarianism by which they are dominating, controlling, and manipulating their followers for personal gain and private kingdom-building.

The most important part should be overseeing the big picture and separating religious authorities with political authorities. That being said, religious authorities may in time turn into structures like parallel states due to their ¨mentality, which in turn may cause the ¨artificial preacher¨ to act as a governmental authority that we see from time to time in the news all around the world.

In Islamic texts you may find statements supportive of individual autonomy, and other statements stressing the need to respect religious authority. Many leaders are not able to reconcile these two notions very well, which results in mixed messages and excessive coercion. With spiritual abuse, it is habitually very difficult to find any evidence of abuse.

Targets often fail to realize what is happening due to noble pressure or the use of guilt feelings in relation to obedience towards the leaders of a cult, which can be camouflaged as obedience towards Allah.

Apotheosis or de facto deification of the leadership

After doing a little research about this topic, surprisingly I have come across with a book named Charismatic Captivation. The author, Dr Lambert, in a post on the book's website delineates "33 Signs of Spiritual Abuse", a few of which are important for myself guidance that almost confirms some renown preachers to be abusers:

Apotheosis or de facto deification of the leadership - exalting them to God-like status in and over the group, often to the extent that the leaders become a "mediator" between the people and God;

MLM-like multi-level authority/government hierarchy (chain-ofcommand);

Absolute authority of the leadership;

No real accountability of the leadership to the corporate body, resulting in a repressive monarchical (autocratic, dictatorship) or oligarchical form of government; Hand-picked sub-leaders, based on their demonstration of submissiveness to the ultimate leader rather than on the basis of their leadership skills, spirituality, and anointing and appointment by God;

Pervasive abuse and misuse of authority in personal dealings with members to coerce submission;

Paranoia, inordinate egotism or narcissism, and insecurity by the leaders;

Abuse, misuse, and inordinate incidence of "church discipline," particularly matters not expressly mentioned in the Bible as church discipline issues;

Members and/or sub-leaders must make a "spiritual covenant," sometimes a signed covenant agreement, pledging their total and everlastingcommitment and financial support to the leadership and cult;

Financial exploitation and enslavement of the members, often by requiring or coercing them to donate well-beyond their means and religious principles;

Spiritualism, mysticism, and unproven or anti-religious doctrines; Inordinate attention to maintaining the public "image" of the ministry and bambasting of all "critics";

Constant indoctrination with a "group" or "family" mentality that impels members to exalt the corporate "life" and goals of the churchgroup over their personal goals, callings, objectives, and relationships;

Members are psychologically traumatized, terrorized, and indoctrinated with numerous improper fears and phobias aimed at keeping them reeling in diffidence and an over-dependence or co-dependence on their leaders and the corporate group;

Members are required to obtain the approval or "witness" of their leader(s) for decisions regarding personal matters;

Frequent preaching from the pulpit regarding not getting out from under the "spiritual covering" of the leadership by leaving the cult or disobeying the leaderships' dictates and demands of you;

Members departing without the prior permission and blessing of the leadership leave the group under a cloud of manufactured suspicion, shame, and slander;

Departing and ostracized members often suffer from various psychological problems and display the classic symptoms associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Esotericism - hidden agendas and requirements revealed to members only as they successfully advance through various stages of "spiritual enlightenment ¨;

Horror stories frequently told by leaders about individuals or families who left the group without the prior permission and blessing of the leadership, and the terrible consequences and curses they suffered as a result.

Spiritual sincerity

Spirituality is about sincerity; a spiritual educator whether he is an active or a retired preacher, should aim for voluntary and enthusiastic compliance. It is possible to break down the selfish and base ego while carefully preserving the psyche.

As a Muslim, from Islamic contexts, I do foresee that the Sahaba were not obedient like robots; they were packed of vitality and ingenuity, and sometimes they questioned authorities and were supported by doing so.

They showed good mental health and functioning because they were handled with care by a highly empathetic leader (prophet sav.) and guide, who instilled transcendent values in them as the basis for action.

But in the current era, the spiritual abusers are mainly resulting in dissociative mental diseases in their followers as stated by Bill Whitehouse in his book named Unveiling Terrorism, Fundamentalism, and Spiritual Abuse.

Now, its time to look around! I am certainly sure that most of you have seen and some has even been dominated by such kind of spiritual terrorist.

As mentioned earlier, there are very few articles regarding spiritual abuse in medical literature-the 1998 articles on the topic for abuse and terrorism did not provoke a burst of follow- up research.

There are a small number of reports in the psychology literature, mostly in studies of people involved in cults. The literature being scarce or biased should not withhold us from future researches under this topic.

Unfortunately it's really hard to find a primary-care doctor in the land who thinks about this problem or looks for it in his patients.

This is a grave oversight. The medical profession should study the health effects of this distinct type of emotional abuse.

We suspect that research may quickly demonstrate what we already intuitively grasp-that it is not only a risk factor for disease, but also a potentially lethal public health issue. Like secondhand smoke, it harms at least two parties at once.

Like malaria, it's more common and more dangerous in certain regions. spiritual abuse affects health, so we must study it instead of ignoring.