Here's something to think about.

I think verbal abuse does exist and there are verbally abusive people. But I do think that "verbal abuse" has gotten to be quite overused and is teetering into if not already in the pit of "psychobabble."

Here is the question. Is verbal abuse getting lumped in there with "aggressive, passive-aggressive" communication styles?

And is it not possible to practice aggressive communication styles and generalize that the person is verbally abusive all the way around, instead of seeing this as just one symptom or trait of a verbally abusive person rather than say, oh he/she does that so they are therefore verbally abusive?