What are the warning signs of a potential abusive relationship?
- Is he/she extremely jealous and possessive, won’t let you have friends, checks up on you, won’t accept breaking up?
- Is he/she violent or from a violent family? Does he/she have a history of fighting, lose his/her temper quickly, brag about mistreating others? Does he/she grab, push, shove or hit you?
- Is he/she controlling by trying to be bossy, giving orders, making all the decisions, not taking your opinions seriously?
- Are you scared of disagreements with him/her? Does he/she threaten you? Use or own weapons?
- Has he/she ever threatened you?
- Has he/she ever degraded you or tried to lower your self worth, such as putting you down in front of friends and telling you that you would be nothing without him or her?
- Does he/she pressure you for sex or is he/she forceful or scary about sex? Does he/she get too serious about the relationship too fast?
- Does he/she abuse alcohol or other drugs and pressure you to take them?
- Has he/she had a history of failed relationships? And blames the other person for all the problems?
- Does he/she make your family and friends uneasy and concerned for your safety?
- Does he/she use derogatory and sexist language when talking about you or other women?
If you answered “yes” to any of these statements or questions you could be the victim of relationship/dating abuse. Abuse isn’t just hitting. It is yelling, threatening, name-calling, saying “I’ll kill myself if you leave me,” obsessive phone calling and extreme possessiveness.
