Have you been in an abusive relationship? How can it affect your mental health, and how can you help yourself?
If you’ve ever been into an abusive relationship, then you must know the adverse effects it had on your mental health. You may not have realized it while in that relationship, but you may suffer from its consequences later on. This could interrupt your mental well-being, future relationships, and even everyday activities. Understanding the possible impact of abuse relationships could help you figure out the best ways to help avoid them. Read on to know more about these effects.
What is an abusive relationship?
Healthy relationships provide support, nurturing, affection and communication. Abusive relationships, on the other hand, could be presented in various forms, whether it’s physical, emotional, mental, sexual, or verbal. By definition, an abusive relationship is one where one individual hurts the other by controlling, doubting, or isolating them. It could occur from your close people like your family, partners, friends, or siblings.
The abuser could use several tactics like threatening, violating, intimidating, or verbally insulting you. These include patterns like:
- Name-calling you
- Manipulating occurred events
- Invalidating your experiences
- Objectifying you
- Crossing your boundaries
- Controlling your behavior
- Constantly criticizing you
- Isolating your needs
- Shaming and belittling you
- Dismissing your feelings
Regardless of its form, abuse could cause major traumatic influences on your mental health. So what are these effects?
Effects of abusive relationships
Traumatic experiences can have significant effects on your physical, emotional, and mental health. You might be feeling a constant state of fear, overwhelming emotions, numbness, or a need to run away.
People who have been exposed to abuse may suffer from:
- Difficulty making decisions
- Social Impairment
- Anxiety and Panic attacks
- Low self-esteem
- Feelings of helplessness and loneliness
- Depression
- Paranoia
- Insomnia
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Eating disorders
- Borderline personality disorder
Not only that, but victims of abusive relationships may enter a cycle of toxic relationships, thus pushing away any healthy connections or offering support.
How to overcome an abusive relationship?
1- Acknowledge the abuse
The first step towards healing is accepting what happened and ended in the past. You may think, “If I ignore the problem, it will go away” or “I don’t want to remember what happened”, but this will not help you overcome the problem from its roots. Treat your abuse as a separate problem that doesn’t define you in any way. This will give you a regained sense of power and will help you move past what happened.
2- Shift your thinking pattern
Abuse could alter how you view yourself and feel about your experiences, which could become very high noises in your mind. These thoughts could be “I’m unworthy of love”, “All people will treat me the same”, “I shouldn’t have done that, It’s my fault”, “Things will never change for the better”…Replace these with only one sentence “I have the power to change what happens to me from now on”.
3- Take care of your mental being
Make sure to provide your own self with all your needed support and care. Practice your hobbies, try new activities, try meditation, eat healthy meals, go out for a walk, drink lots of water and get enough sleep. When you feel like it, talk with your friends and family and express your emotions. This will help you regain focus on what matters most in your life, and receive the support that you need.
You are not your experiences, accept new beginnings, don’t pressure yourself, and take your time to heal.