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Identifying Signs of Abuse in Relationships #1
Weather you are man or women, detecting abuse, especially in a relationship, can be challenging because it often involves subtle and insidious patterns of behaviour that are not obvious.
With the help of my therapist, I gradually came to accept that I was abused after my husband left me after 15 years of marriage. He left us devasted when he took everything and left us without a home or money with four small children and scars on our bodies, emotions and minds.
Then I married again three years later to a man who promised to take on my children as his own, and that relationship was abusive in a completely different way; it was so subtle at first that I didn’t realise until he asked for a divorce 16 years later, then it was friends pointed out the abusive relationship I was physiological and emotional and that him leaving was a blessing.
Years went by; then, once again, alone and feeling very lonely with children grown and gone, he kicked and punched me on our honeymoon. Two years of physical and psychological abuse followed. It wasn’t until he put me in the hospital that I made the move to leave.
In all these relationships, I was convinced that I had to make it work and that it was my fault the men in my life behaved badly. I was convinced I wasn’t good enough and didn’t work hard enough…
