The abuse I speak of here is by our partners. But you are right when you say it starts of young. I have seen many cases in which one or both the parents are dominant. The control over the child continues all the way into adulthood and in some cases literally till one of the parent dies. Post this the person is completely lost, has terrible relationships and basically screwed for life. Your case is again another example. In my culture we are thought never ever to disrespect our parents. For the strong willed rebel, this is easy to get out of but for someone who is emotional, this is a real bad situation. We are emotionally blackmailed into doing everything, be it studies, marriage or even how many children we should have. More so to girls than boys. This invariably makes you feel worthless and incapable of taking decisions in life. Parents when they get us (girls) married, automatically hand over the reins of our lives to that of our partners and the control and abuse continues. That is unless you crack and one day decide to break free.
RE: What it's like to be mentally abused - here is my take on it . My article called "You deserve it".