4 Subtle Signs You're Being Abused

While physical violence in a relationship is fairly obvious to diagnose, emotional abuse is harder to detect, but can hurt just as deeply. Subtle behaviors often go unnoticed, but they are toxic and can lead to physical abuse in the future.

Control
The manipulator will try to control the victim by robbing them of their power and self-respect. This way, the dominator creates a helpless victim.

Lying
Words are powerful, especially false ones. Lies break the sense of trust that glues a relationship together in the first place.

Unpredictability
Unpredictable behavior causes a lot of stress for the victim, because they have no clue how their aggressor will react. Another sign of emotional abuse is when your partner thrives in drama. No one should be riding an emotional roller coaster on a daily basis.

Blackmail
Emotional blackmail is dangerous. The aggressor knows what bothers the victim, making an easy target for manipulation.

- Barbara Bent