Silent treatment

The silent treatment is a common way of displaying contempt for another individual while avoiding confrontation about that contempt or without giving the target of the contempt an opportunity to resolve the issue or dispute.


A romantic relationship with a self-absorbed individual, feel like it a sort of punishment. 





The silent treatment is a form of emotional abuse and it happens with people that have narcissistic tendencies.  It places the abuser in a position of control.  It makes the abuser silence his target attempts at assertion. The abuser avoids conflict resolution, person responsibility and compromise.  It punishes the target.  These attempts are met with disdain, contempt and silence.  The abuser message is one of disapproval, so bad, that it makes the target feel insignificant, because the target has become non-existent to the abuser.


The abuser will demand that the target apologise for whatever the target might have done wrong. The abuser could decide to end a relationship and start afresh instead of reaching a compromise.


How to deal with an abuser?  The abuser has not developed the ability to express empathy, reciprocity and compromise.   The silent treatment is a form of emotional abuse that no one deserves nor should tolerate. A person that cannot communicate probably needs to heal or move on.


The healing process is more like mourning the loss of a relationship that did not exist and it was only one-way favouring the abuser.  The minute that the target agrees with the abuser, or asserts him or herself.  The abuser uses the favourite weapon, and that is the silent treatment.


Do not accept emotional abuse. Know that you are worthy of a healthy relationship with someone who can communicate in a mature, emotionally healthy manner. 


Don't stand for it , move on!!