Friday, June 28, 2013

What are the health effects of relationship violence?

Some health effects are clear, like physical injuries. But the stress of relationship violence can lead to other serious problems like:
  • Eating disorders
  • Depression
  • Mental health problems – like panic attacks, trouble sleeping, and flashbacks (re-living the violence in your mind)
  • Trouble trusting people and building other relationships
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – a type of anxiety disorder
How do I know if my relationship might become violent?
Relationship violence can start slowly and be hard to recognize at first. For example, when people first start dating, it’s common to want to spend a lot of time together. It may be hard to tell if you are spending less time with other people just for now or if your partner is trying to control your time.
It might help to ask yourself these questions:
  • Does my partner respect me?
  • Does my partner blame me for everything that goes wrong?
  • Does my partner make most of the decisions in our relationship?
  • Am I ever afraid to tell my partner something?
  • Do I ever feel forced to do something I don’t want to do?
  • Have I ever done anything sexual with my partner when I didn’t want to?
  • Does my partner promise to change and then keep doing the same things?

1 comment:

Susan Summer said...

For some people, opportunities lie at their door step,for others, they sit across a sea.