English

Noun

emotional cripple ‎(plural emotional cripples)

1. (idiomatic) A person who has been rendered indecisive, alienated, uncaring, confused, or helpless in conjunction with experiencing debilitating emotions, such as worry, fear, panic, despair, etc.
   • 1997, Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version, ISBN 9780307813473, (Google preview):

     The truth is I was an emotional cripple when I met her, drunk more often than not, punishing myself for doing things that went against my nature.

   • 1999 April 24, Sarah Boxer, "Think Tank: A Son's Simple Diagnosis of His Father's Complexities," New York Times (retrieved 23 Jan 2013):

     His mother's affliction was "panic disorder with agoraphobia, which made her an emotional cripple for many years."

   • 2002, Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time, ISBN 9781400045082, p. 9 (Google preview):

     [I]f I ever come across as a maladjusted, socially isolated, sad, hunched emotional cripple (I'm thinking mainly of Sunday mornings in February, here), then it's those four weeks of having to wear short trousers in September 1964 that are to blame.

Synonyms

• basket case

References

• emotional cripple at OneLook Dictionary Search