Domestic Violence Awareness

Before my abusive relationship experience, I never understood why a woman would stay in a relationship with an abuser. It was very cut and dry to me, and didn’t make any sense. What I didn’t realize from the outside is the abuse doesn’t necessarily start out in a very obvious way: it creeps in slowly like a poisonous gas. The more you breathe in the gas the less clear your thoughts become. By the time things starts happening that a sane person would recognize as abuse, it’s generally too late-you are no longer quite “sane.” Your sense of what has happened has been completely distorted by exhausting mental games and emotional torment. Your perception of reality has been twisted and manipulated so severely, you are no longer certain what to believe or even who you are. I think if someone hasn’t experienced that, it’s almost impossible to understand that you actually can be driven (temporarily) mad by another person. It’s also because most abuse happens privately. If you weren’t a victim, you probably only saw his best, most charming face- and if that was the person you “knew” it would be hard to imagine the dark truth of what happens behind closed doors.