If me and my spouse had an argument and it becomes nasty to the point that he will start to verbally abuse me. I just tell him that I don't want to talk right now for we are both angry and we might say things we don't mean. I will just tell him that we can talk later when our heads are cooler and we can think clearly. This usually helps and stops his abuse. Although sometimes I can't help it that I've heard him utter words that can hurt but I tried to ignore them and stop our conversation as soon as I have the chance to talk.

Before I used to just keep my mouth shut when he started to verbally abuse me in our arguments. But this only makes him angrier for he is annoyed by the silent treatment that I give him. So even though I'm hurt I act cool and tell him that maybe it would be best to talk later when we have thought about things clearly. And this really help stop the verbal abuse. When he approached me to talk he is cooler and he readily apologize for the things he said. The verbal abuse stops and we have agreed and meet half-way. This is the approach that really works for me.