Out of all the tried-and-tested ways of punishing someone, I think some good ol’ silent treatment never failed to make an impact. In fact, I’d rank it fairly highly as one of the better ones, not just in its efficacy, but in its insidious manifestation, creeping into most people’s psyches and just literally eating them alive. (Or in some cases, spontaneously combusting, as I’ve seen.)

The reason for its power is that it turns your worst enemy against you—your mind. Silent treatment does almost nothing on the part of the exacter, but as the thoughts, worries and paranoia brew to a slow boil, soon you can’t do anything but stand in the face of the racket in your own head.

And it is that racket that kills you eventually, from the inside out. Most frustrating is that you are your own killer, and you have only yourself to blame for your misery. As you get increasingly bogged down by your worries, this eventually intertwines with your own frustration at not being able to control yourself, twisting and wrapping together to form bigger knots.

I’ve known of people who’ve begged for a scolding, a beating—anything—to get respite from the nagging weight of the silence. So you know something’s really powerful when people will seek other lesser forms of punishment to get out of the flames. Good stuff, this silent treatment—one of women’s last survival weapons.