Chris Harris, is a automotive journalist, racing driver and television presenter on the popular show, Top Gear working alongside Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff. Due to his extensive knowledge pertaining to vehicles, Harris was the obvious choice to step in after the show lost Jeremy Clarkson. He was sadly not met with open arms by some fans whose comments led the presenter to a dark place.
Speaking to Jonny Smith on The Late Brake Show, Harris admitted how the backlash he endured with people sending him constant negative feedback caused him to spiral.
Harris bravely opened up about how it “broke me down.”
With the barrage of hurtful comments and how it got out of control, Harris found himself battling mentally.
“Once they’re doing that, that is abuse,” he said.
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Fortunately, he took mental solace with a licenced therapist to discuss his issues.
Harris said: “One faithful day, I did pick up the phone, to go and see someone [a doctor].
“And you know what? I’m still doing that now.
“Not because I’m in a really bad place, but because I need it because it’s relentlessly negative.”
Spiralling negative thoughts or mental abuse can have a dire effect to one’s health and can often be a precursor for depression.
In fact, according to one study severe emotional abuse can be as damaging as physical abuse and contribute to depression and low self-esteem.
The study also suggested that emotional abuse may contribute to the development of other chronic health conditions such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Despite a large amount of research on depression and abuse, there is still a controversy on how abuse is measured regarding its possible physiological effect it could have.
More research is needed to understand the role of abuse in the development and maintenance of depression and, in particular, longitudinal studies that also account for the large number of risk and protective factors that influence this relationship.
How different types of abuse can influence response to treatment among survivors with depression, in order to provide effective trauma-focused approaches to manage depressive symptoms should be further investigated, said a study published in Hindawi.
The effects of emotional abuse can be painful and destructive, both in the short and long-term.
Survivors are often plagued by low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and feelings of helplessness.
For some, emotional abuse eventually leads to nervous breakdown, said Dr Philip Timms from Bridges Recovery.
He continued: “While there is no clinical definition of this phenomenon, it typically refers to the point at which psychological distress disrupts functionality.
“This loss of function occurs when the effects of emotional abuse become too much to bear.”
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