Have other people minimized, shamed, or invalidated your feelings?

Having your feelings diminished, ignored, or rejected is a painful experience for all of us but even more so if youre a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) or survivor of abuse or other trauma.

Its important to have a sense of belonging and to be a part of a group — a family or community. And part of belonging to any group is to be known, understood, and accepted. But while its normal to want to be understood, we cant depend on others to validate who we are, what we believe in, and how we feel. When we do, we compromise pieces of who we are in order to fit in and let others determine our self-worth.

Your feelings matter. Emotions serve an important purpose and shouldnt be ignored. For example, feeling angry, afraid, or sad tells you that somethings wrong. You dont want to miss these crucial pieces of information because they can help you to take care of yourself and make decisions to keep safe.

Feelings arent right or wrong. They are a reflection of your thoughts, experiences, and perceptions, which is why two people can have the same experience, but feel differently about it.

Its also important to note that validation saying that someones feelings are acceptable or worthwhile isnt the same as agreeing with their feelings. We can certainly feel differently but make the effort to try to understand and empathize with our loved ones feelings.

Sometimes emotional invalidation is done accidentally by someone who is well-meaning but has a low emotional intelligence or simply isnt paying attention to your feelings.

A common form of invalidation is when someone tries to cheer you up when youre sad because they feel uncomfortable with your feelings. This can be invalidating because your feelings are being dismissed when someone wants to change your feelings rather than accept them or understand them.

Other times, emotional invalidation is a form of manipulation and an attempt to make you question your emotions and experiences. A pattern of invalidation is a form of emotional abuse or gaslighting. Its a denial of you or your experience. It implies that youre wrong, overreacting, or lying. Abusers do this to turn things around and blame the victim, and deny or minimize their abusive words or actions.

The most common forms of invalidation include blaming, judging, denying, and minimizing your feelings or experiences. Invalidation isnt just disagreeing, it says: I dont care about your feelings. Your feelings dont matter. Your feelings are wrong.

Invalidation might sound something like this:

  • Im sure it wasnt that bad
  • Youre overly sensitive
  • You probably took it too personally
  • Youll get over it
  • Just let it go
  • Youre a strong person
  • It could be worse
  • God doesnt give you more than you can handle
  • Everything happens for a reason
  • I know exactly how you feel
  • You shouldnt be angry (or any other feeling)
  • You make a big deal out of everything
  • That didnt happen
  • Stop making things up
  • Im not going to talk about this with you
  • You probably misunderstood

Invalidation can also be non-verbal: rolling your eyes, ignoring, playing on your phone or another distraction, leaving the room.

When your feelings are minimized or denied, its natural to want to defend yourself or to strike back and emotionally wound the perpetrator. This is understandable but rarely helpful. In fact, the perpetrator is often looking to put you on the defensive and draw you into a non-productive argument that further distracts you from the real issues.

Before deciding how to respond to invalidation, ask yourself a few questions to clarify your goals and options:

  • Are you close to this person?
  • Does their opinion matter?
  • Has this person been interested in understanding your feelings in the past?
  • Is it a good use of your time and energy to help them understand your feelings?
  • Does this person have a habit of invalidating your feelings?
  • How have they responded in the past when youve pointed it out?

Sometimes, its not worth trying to get a stranger or even an acquaintance to understand your feelings. Generally, the closer the relationship you have with someone, the more important it is for them to understand your feelings.

However, you have to be realistic about other peoples capabilities to do so. If this person repeatedly invalidates your feelings and isnt interested or motivated to change, you need to take steps to distance yourself and take care of your own feelings.

You may want to calmly and without blame state that you feel invalidated. This acknowledges that youve been hurt and gives the other person the opportunity to make it right. The key, again, is not to get drawn into a debate about who is right or wrong, but to set a boundary that states how you want to be treated and to leave the situation if your needs arent respected.

If you have a friend or family member who occasionally invalidates your feelings and is open and receptive to learning how to be more empathetic, you can show them this short video from Bren Brown about empathy and you can practice communicating your feelings using “I” statements. You can find more details about how to share your feelings in this article.

Its important to form relationships with people who love and respect you, who care about your feelings and want to understand who you are and how you feel.

Its also important for you to care about, understand, and validate your own feelings. As you know, we can run into emotional problems and become victims when we rely too heavily on external validation.

I wrote the following affirmation to help you validate your own feelings.

I respect and honor myself when I pay attention to and accept my feelings.

I will try to slow down and make time to notice my feelings.

I know that my feelings matter and I will value the truth and wisdom they contain.

Others may try to invalidate my experiences and feelings, but I will hold onto my truth.

I can hold onto my truth and also remain open to other people’s perspectives as long as there is mutual respect. I’m learning to distinguish between people who invalidate anddisrespectme and those who are curious andinterested but have different experiences and feelings than my own.

I can choose not to spendtime withpeople who continue toinvalidatemy experiences and feelings. I will choose to surround myselfwith peoplewho support my healing and growth, who push me to be a better person, and wholeaveme feeling better aboutmyself– not worse.

I can validate my feelings by reminding myself that all feelings are acceptable and have a purpose; my feelings matter and they arent wrong.

I will validate my feelings by making them a priority. I will give them time and space to exist.

I will be curious about them and seek to understand them better, rather than judging them or pushing them away.

I know my feelings matter so I will practice accepting them.

I will give myself compassion in the face of difficult emotions. I will listen to my feelings and use them as a guide to help me take better care of myself.

I will hold onto my truth and validate my own feelings.

Many people get stuck because they think they need their loved ones to validate their feelings. To have a satisfying relationship with someone, you need them to understand you. However, you dont need other people to tell you your feelings are acceptable.

The important thing is that you know your feelings are valid regardless of what others think. You are the only one who can validate your feelings and deem them acceptable and legitimate; no one can do it for you and external validation doesnt mean anything until you can validate your own feelings.

2018 Sharon Martin, LCSW. All rights reserved. Photo byhenri meilhaconUnsplash.