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1.27 FEELINGS -- PSYCHOLOGY ABUSE TERMS, CONCEPTS

==== Feelings

MEANING: Emotions. The psychologist, Robert Plutchik, believes that there are eight basic feelings: joy, acceptance, fear, submission, sadness, disgust, anger and anticipation.

RELEVANCE TO ABUSE: Getting in touch with one's feelings is basic to mental health and to recovery from an abusive relationship. People in abusive relationships often deny their feelings so that becoming aware of them can be quite a shock. A lack of understanding about one's feelings can lead to apathy or a sense of hopelessness and meaninglessness over time.

PERSONAL NOTE FROM RICK DOBLE: Feelings are the well that feed us, give us energy, give us a will to live, a desire to love and to go on with our lives. As the poet e e cummings wrote, "since feeling is first..." A removal from one's feelings is doomed to failure. Ideally in recovery one should gradually become more attuned to one's feelings and then integrate that new understanding into a new sense of oneself. While sudden revelations are dramatic, life changing, and exciting, dealing with an avalanche of emotion can be overwhelming and be more than a person can handle.

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