At the start of every relationship, the partner is usually behaving lovey-dovey towards the other. You may not know anything about their abusive behaviour yet, because everything they do centres around loving you.
How do you know you are in an abusive relationship? Abusive doesn’t only means your partner inflicts physical pain on you. It isn’t all the time domestic violence, it may be in the form of emotional damage, financial abuse, sexual abuse, gaslighting, and many more.
Either way, either partner can be the victim or the abuser. So, here are a few tips to know you are in an abusive relationship
1. Your Partner Is Overprotective And Jealous
As I said earlier, when the relationship begins, your partner’s agenda centres around loving and protecting you. However, this might be done exaggeratedly and you may feel they are becoming overprotective of you. They also get jealous every time and you find yourself always trying to explain your actions. Here, is the first sign that you are in an abusive relationship.
2. Your Partner Does Not Want You, Your Family, or Your Friends
When your partner forbids you from visiting your friends or your parents, then there is something wrong. It is one thing not to want your family and friends around you, it is another thing not to want you as well.
Usually, these kinds of people may come up with different excuses for you not to meet your loved ones. They might say your family/friends are a bad influence on your relationship, so you shouldn’t get in touch with them any longer.
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Some might just tell you outright not to visit them (family and friends) anymore. Either way, this is one of the signs that you are in an abusive relationship. A partner who values you would not forbid you from meeting with the people who made you happy long before you met them.
3. Your Partner Controls Your Everyday Life
So, you found out that you don’t have a say in your life, everything you do needs validation from your partner. They tell you the amount of money to spend even though you earn the money yourself.
They instruct you on what type of hairstyle to wear, what category of people to meet, and many more. When this happens, sorry dear, you are in an abusive relationship. You just did not know.
4. You Feel You Can’t Be Honest With Your Partner
The last straw that breaks the camel’s back should be this. When you feel you can’t go clean with your partner, then the relationship is damaged beyond repair.
This might be because of continuous gaslighting, guilt-tripping, blackmailing e.t.c. When your partner makes you feel like you are going crazy, and then you begin to doubt yourself, thinking if you were the one with the problem. One last piece of advice. You are neck-deep in an abusive relationship.
Flee!