4 Signs of an Abusive Relationship
Posted by Kurt Smith, MFT, AFC on Fri, Dec 24, 2010
Many women are in an abusive relationship and don't even know it. At Guy Stuff Counseling we hear every week from women looking for relationship advice. Many of these women are in an abusive relationship, but just can't see it.
These women often feel confused, lonely, and helpless about their relationship, but don't know that the reason why is because they're in an abusive relationship. The majority of women we work with aren't in a physically abusive relationship, but instead suffer emotional abuse and verbal abuse, which can be much harder to call out as abusive.
Here are 4 signs to look for to spot an abusive relationship. These are excerpts from the About.com article What Are Some Types of Domestic Abuse?
- Living in an atmosphere of fear, intimidation and unpredictability.
- Does your spouse react with a violent rage to the slightest upset? If your spouse’s reactions to events are exaggerated then you are living with abuse that is disproportionate to the imaged offense.
- The abuser engineer’s impossible, dangerous, unpredictable, unprecedented, or highly specific situations in which he is needed, depended on or considered the only source of authority, knowledge, skills, or useful traits.
- Most abusers lack empathy. They dehumanize and treat people like inane objects, extensions of themselves, or instruments to be played as they wish.
You can read more description of these different forms of relationship abuse in the article, What Are Some Types of Domestic Abuse?
If some of these descriptions sound like your relationship, but you're still not sure whether or not you're really in an abusive relationship, get some professional help from a licensed counselor. Confusion is a byproduct of relationship abuse, so be sure to get some objective relationship advice so you can really see the truth of your relationship.