The worst abuse is the self abuse of enduring being abused.

Verbal abuse doesn't have to end with screaming, physical abuse doesn't have to end with murder. Emotional abuse doesn't have an end. I don't know of a scenario wherein I will ever stop feeling what my ex wife put me through. Finding my dream love, a billion dollars, curing cancer, and solving world hunger wouldn't completely make me stop resenting myself. I didn't do anything to her physically, emotionally, or verbally... But she sure felt the need for me to feel all three.

All

Verbal abuse is emotional abuse. Physical abuse is also emotional abuse.

Sexual Abuse can be pretty bad too.

If you do not get married, just live together you can leave at any time. No reason to take any abuse. The only thing worse than abuse, is a pathetic person who is so weak ("but...but...I love him..." ) that they put up with it.

All 3 can lead to death or prolonged suffering. If I had to choose 1 of the 3, I would have to go with physical. Physical abuse directly causes psychological damage as well as physical. The other 2 sometimes indirectly cause physical damage. That said, I’d prefer not to put one form of abuse over the others. I’ve experienced all 3 forms, and in my case, the physical caused the least damage. This is definitely a case by case kind of question.

All the above.

D. All or any mentioned above.

Abuse is abuse. It fucks with you. I have had the luck to experience all at different points of my life. Some alone, some in combo. It all sucks.

All forms of abuse are emotional. Physical wounds heal, but the emotional element endures. Verbal abuse is only words, what lasts is the feelings those words evoke. Without the mind the body is nothing. The scars that can't be seen are the hardest to heal.

Physical abuse sucks. I feel like verbal abuse should be included in emotional abuse.

Emotional abuse takes hard work and incredible time to heal. Bruises heal much faster. Both can be deadly.

All of the above.

Depends on intensity.
Point is that huge physical abuse is visible and easy to prove, so it is easy to stop.
Emotional abuse can easily be hidden and difficult to prove, so difficult to stop, thus can be a lot more aggressive than the physical.
Any way I think physical is worse because it can instantly activate survival reactions that changes everything instantly.
Emotional abuse in general takes time to become severe, physical can be instantaneous.

I think emotional and verbal abuse go hand in hand.

With all due respect it's kind of a ridiculous question. It is sort of like asking, " which is a worse way to die, being impaled by your steering column, or being decapitated by a guard rail through the windsheild?". In either case the outcome is the same and both are pretty bad. All abuse is bad snd there is no slide rule of better or worse. Its just a matter of the extent of abuse.

All three are just as bad...especially when you are subjected to all three simultaneously...throw in sexual abuse and you have a view of what some childhoods were like. Self esteem is a very hard fought battle.

Abuse is abuse. Bad news anyway you experience it.

They're all bad, having been on the receiving end I wouldn't choose any one of them

Why is there NOT a " All of the above" option as well.
Every form of abuse is as bad as the next in my opinion.

Physical abuse can and does kill. This is Domestic Violence awareness month. Here we set out silhouettes showing those women, men and children killed in Domestic Violence. I will try and make a post with pictures.

Emotional/psychological abuse is often the most painful and difficult to get over. And the abuse can be inflicted verbally, non-verbally (through policies and procedures like discrimination or shunning), as well as physically. It's possible for someone to be abused physically and not really be aware that they are being abused. But if they are abused emotionally they definitely know it.

"Would you rather have a nightmare about--"

I'd prefer not to have any nightmares, thank you.

They’re all awful.

Been through all at some point. takes years, if not forever, to heal.

Vernal abuse and physical abuse are just different variations of emotional abuse. You don't physically hurt someone if you aren't trying to also hurt them emotionally. The emotional aspect of the abuse is most damaging, I believe, and the most difficult to overcome. But physical abuse is emotional abuse and so those who have been physically abused have both physical and emotional healing to do.