.jpeg)
Leading expert in Psychological Abuse International Author, Researcher and Psychotherapist
New book documents how psychological abuse drives chronic illness, as Dr. Neal brings screening tools and training to hospitals and health plans this October.
The people living with psychological abuse are already in the building. They are in cardiology, in gynecology, in the emergency department, in primary care.”
WOODLANDS, TX, UNITED STATES, October 7, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Dr. Avery Neal, PhD, LPC, today announced the publication of Loving You Shouldn't Be Hurting Me: Psychological Abuse and Its Effects on Physical and Mental Health (Post Hill Press). Released during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the book is the first to explain how psychological abuse harms the nervous system, the body, and the mind, and it arrives with screening tools, clinician training, and patient courses Dr. Neal is licensing to hospitals, healthcare organizations and health plans.— Dr. Avery Neal
Psychological abuse is the most common form of intimate partner violence. Half of Americans report experiencing it from a partner, and its effects on health are as detrimental as those of physical abuse. Because it leaves no injury to photograph, it is rarely assessed in a medical setting. In one emergency department study, 77 percent of intimate partner violence victims were never identified.
"The people living with psychological abuse are already in the building," said Dr. Neal. "They are in cardiology, in gynecology, in the emergency department, in primary care, presenting with anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, and illnesses that do not resolve. Almost none of them use the word abuse, and almost none of the clinicians treating them were ever taught to look for it. This book explains what is happening in their bodies. The tools and training give the nurse or physician already in the room a way to see it and respond."
The book moves from recognition to recovery, following what chronic manipulation, control, and fear do to the nervous system over time. The final section introduces the Neal Method™ and the CLEAR Framework™, a five-phase clinical model built on clarity, liberation, empowerment, autonomy, and regulation.
The model and training give clinicians a structured path from recognition to recovery that fits the therapeutic work they already do.Lois P. Frankel, PhD, the New York Times bestselling author, said "every survivor, every loved one, and every professional who supports them should read this remarkable book."
Bringing recognition into clinical care
Dr. Neal is now putting the same recognition into the hands of the nurses and physicians who see these patients first. She has developed a Medical Screening Tool for specialty departments and a Therapist Assessment for behavioral health, licensed together with a nine-module training curriculum for nurses, physicians, frontline care teams, and behavioral health clinicians. For licensed therapists, she has introduced the Psychological Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence Certification and the Neal Method™ Certification in the CLEAR Framework™.
For patients, her three courses, Recognizing Psychological Abuse, Healing After Psychological Abuse, and Trauma and Anxiety Recovery, are available for organizations to host under their own name, so care teams can offer them privately and on demand. More than 20,000 people have taken the courses.
"Recognition has to happen where these patients already are," Dr. Neal said. "When a hospital or a health plan can identify psychological abuse and offer a patient a way to understand what they are experiencing, the care they are already receiving finally reaches the right thing. That is the standard of care I am working toward, and it is why this book and these programs are arriving together."
Women with recent nonphysical-only abuse carry 33 percent higher annual health care costs than women with no history of abuse. Organizations planning Domestic Violence Awareness Month programming can bring the book, screening tools, clinician training, and patient courses to their teams and patients this month.
About the book
Loving You Shouldn't Be Hurting Me: Psychological Abuse and Its Effects on Physical and Mental Health by Dr. Avery Neal, with a foreword by Dr. Alex Howard, is published by Post Hill Press (trade paperback, ISBN 979-8-89565-960-1, $19.99) and available at lovingyouthebook.com, on Amazon, and wherever books are sold.
About Dr. Avery Neal
Dr. Avery Neal, PhD, LPC, is the leading expert on psychological abuse and its effects on mental and physical health. She is an international author, researcher and psychotherapist. Her first book, If He's So Great, Why Do I Feel So Bad? (Kensington, 2018), has been published in twelve languages. Learn more at averyneal.com and averynealcourses.com.
Media contact
Dr. Avery Neal
info@averyneal.com
Dr. Neal is available for interviews on psychological abuse, intimate partner violence, women's health, and trauma recovery.
Dr. Avery Neal
Avery Neal, PhD, LPC
Info@averyneal.com
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Other
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
