Mental cruelty is normally taken as being referred to spousal behavior. Any behavior that threatens the life, physical health or emotional health is termed as mental cruelty. You read more often about mental cruelty in divorce cases. Can we expand the definition of mental cruelty a little more? Suppose there is a relationship and one partner not only becomes mentally cruel but after that, breaks up leaving the other shattered?
The state of the partner who is left in the cold will become very bad. Though he or she will not face cruelty day to day from ex-partner, the loneliness and the resulting mental trauma of break up is enough to cause many disorders. One of them most often is post traumatic stress disorder. Life becomes a living hell for such people. I have interacted with many such persons on online forums and found that: They feel shattered. They cannot believe that their partner left them. They suffer PTSD. They suffer from chronic depression. They stop having any interest in work. They have obsessive thoughts of love and revenge for their ex. And many such other problems, which are not easy to find out and treat.
To tell such people to accept the reality and move on is easy but very difficult for the sufferer to implement. Any memory will bring back the avalanche of thoughts about the partner and it becomes very difficult to make new relationships.
How do we term the behavior of the partner who left in such cases? Is it not cruelty that has left mental and emotional wounds that never heal? Cruelty is therefore not easy to define. One can be cruel once and that will remove a life's pleasure forever. Rape is similar. One time rape may mentally torture the victim forever. Though the act was physical cruelty, the wounds are mental and emotional.
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