8 Ways How To Tell If You Are Emotionally Damaged

I think we’ve all been through tough times in our lives that leave us feeling scorned. Whether it was a breakup, just a generally bad experience, or maybe an event you didn’t even realize was traumatic in the moment, our everyday lives can leave us emotionally drained and damaged.

While everyone has something that keeps them from living their life exactly the way they want, some of us might have a harder time than others. The consistent nagging of something in our past lives can put a damper on the good things happening right in front of us.

If you’re wondering why you can never be fully at ease or happy in any of your relationships, it could have something to do with the fact you’ve been hurt, scarring you in a way that has affected those aspects of your life.

You may be clueless as to how you’re emotionally damaged. But these are the best ways you can tell if you’re emotionally damaged and how you can try and move forward from the pain.

# Someone lost your trust in a big way

Somewhere along the way, whether it was your boyfriend/girlfriend, a close friend, or even a family member, someone took your trust and crushed it like your finished beer can. This makes it even harder for you to let people in and trust them—resulting in your emotional damage.

# You find yourself comparing your new love interest to the person who wronged you

A sign you’re emotionally damaged is comparing someone new you’re seeing with an ex that may have done you wrong. Their actions left a pit in you, translating to new potential lovers.

# You keep people at arm’s length

Much like you don’t trust people, you also don’t let people get to know you. This sign of emotional damage stems from someone using personal habits, quirks, or bits of your personality and hurting you with it. AKA: bullying.

# You constantly compare yourself to others

Having a low self-esteem and comparing yourself to other people is a surefire way to tell if you’re emotionally damaged. Someone once made you feel inadequate and now you can’t stop the reoccurring thought you’re not good enough, and you just don’t measure up.

# Anger creeps into you over almost nothing

One of the side effects of being emotionally damaged is you’re always on edge; meaning you get angered very quickly over the littlest things. This is because, subconsciously, you feel so defensive and feel the need to protect yourself from further damage.

# Anxiety is often present when meeting new people

If meeting new people—whether they would be just friends, acquaintances, or a potential lover—puts you in full-on panic mode, you can tell. You just don’t know if you can go through with meeting new people and risk being put through any kind of pain again.

# You had a traumatic breakup

Chances are if you’ve had a traumatic breakup of any kind ever, you’re going to be emotionally damaged. Breakups hurt and that pain has a way of leaving scars. No matter how the breakup happened, if it was a bad one then you’re definitely emotionally damaged in some form or another.

# You were hurt horribly for a very long time

Speaking of breakups, if you were hurt after that or any other life event that left you in pieces under your bed’s comforter for weeks on end, there is emotional damage. No matter where the pain came from, the fact it was there for so long will leave an imprint.