What Is An Abusive Relationship?

Relationships can be confusing, and sadly, many people end up hurt from being in one, so they start to wonder - what is an abusive relationship? This question has many answers because abuse can come in many different forms, but the end result is still the same. In an abusive relationship, someone who is supposed to be in the position of showing love and affection behaves in a way that hurts and controls the other person. An abusive relationship can contain some or all of the different types of abuse. Abuse is unbiased; it can happen in any type of relationship, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, age, mental capability, and religious and cultural backgrounds of the people involved. This article will help clarify what types of abuse there are and how to identify it.

1. Physical.  Physical abuse consists of anything another person may try to do to physically harm or intimidate. Physical harm ranges anywhere from hitting, kicking, biting, strangling, physical restraint, forcing you to eat or not eat, not sleep, or take care of yourself. Sometimes these altercations leave bruises, broken bones or teeth, and cuts.
2. Psychological. Also known as mental and emotional abuse, this type of abuse is based off of hurtful behaviors, words, and actions, used with the intent to scare, manipulate, intimidate, threaten, isolate or destabilize you.  Different behaviors of psychological abuse include, but are not limited to, controlling all of your activities, threatening or frightening you, limiting your social contact, forcing you into doing degrading things, and not letting you have food, medication, or sleep.
3. Financial.  Financial abuse includes behaviors such as not letting you work, taking your money, controlling all finances, and claiming ownership of your expensive property such as cars, houses, jewelry, and land.
4. Sexual.  There are many forms of sexual abuse that can happen in a relationship. Behaviors such as forcing you into participation of any sexual act in which you are not comfortable, weather it is with another person or themselves, rape, forcing you into prostitution, acting or posing for pornography, having an abortion or not having an abortion, refusing to use protection or birth control, knowingly infecting you with sexually transmitted diseases, and refusing to share information of their past sexual health. The bottom line is that if someone is doing anything sexual to you in any sort of way, by means of force, manipulation, or refusing to respect your wishes, it is abuse.