In order to keep yourself (and your children) safe emotionally and physically safe, you’ve had to pay a great deal of attention to your partner. You probably carefully monitor your partner’s moods and behaviours. You may not have had much opportunity to see how his abuse affects you. Here a partial list of Impacts generated by a group of women in one of our women’s groups.
- Fatigue
- Feel like I’m going crazy
- Feel isolated
- Suffer depression
- Have a lack of interest
- Feel distracted
- Feel overwhelmed
- Judge myself
- Have lost all my friends
- Doubt myself
- Feel rage
- Women also experience many health problems:
- Heart palpitations
- High blood pressure
- Stomach problems
- Weight problems
- Sleep problems
- Muscle pain
Most women are shocked to see the many ways in which the abuse has affected their lives and their health. This list can be very affirming, because it helps to explain concerns that you may have had over feeling forgetful, confused, dizzy, sad or angry. It may also help you to understand shy you’re so exhausted – look at all the things you’ve been coping with!
One Response to “Is there something wrong with me?”
Gwen
The lists in this book were what opened my eyes to the reality of my abusive relationship – there was nothing I could do to make things better. As I read through the lists I was able to tick off so many things – it was quite a shock to me. Before I left 4 years ago I checked off 15 items on the above list. Now I can only check off 5 – I share joint custody so I don’t expect to get down to 0 until my children are much older.