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Are You in an Abusive Marriage?

Domestic violence is usually very overt and easy to recognize. Sometimes though, abuse is covert and we may not even realize we are in an abusive relationship. Here you will find help in understanding abuse and identifying whether or not you are in an abusive relationship.
Domestic Abuse Screening Quiz
Is your relationship like most other couples, or has it developed into one that is truly abusive? This screening quiz can help you determine whether you might be involved in a destructive or harmful relationship.
A Comprehensive Look At Domestic Abuse
Domestic abuse of any kind is about control. Whether domestic abuse is covert or overt, it is an immature reaction to a sense of helplessness and feelings of loss of control.
Are You Being Abused?
Are you being abused? Look over the following questions. Think about how you are being treated and how you treat your partner. Remember, when one person scares, hurts or continually puts down the other person, it's abuse.
Are You a Victim of Emotional Abuse?
Emotional abuse is crippling. It robs a person of their self-esteem, the ability to think rationally, confidence in themselves and their independence and autonomy.
What Are Some Types Of Domestic Abuse?
Whether domestic abuse is overt or covert, it is about control. Aggression is primitive and immature reactions to a sense of helplessness and feeling a loss of control. Domestic abuse, violet or non-violent is used to keep a sense of safety for the abuser
How Can Someone Identify and Respond to Verbal Abuse?
How to identify and respond to verbal abuse.
Passive Aggressive Behavior, a Form of Covert Abuse
Passive Aggressive behavior is a form of covert abuse. When someone hits you or yells at you, you know that you've been abused. It is obvious and easily identified. Covert abuse is subtle and veiled or disguised by actions that appear to be normal, at times loving and caring. The passive aggressive person is a master at covert abuse.
The Role Anger Plays In Passive Aggressive Behavior
Anger plays a role in passive aggressive behavior. The passive aggressive spouse that is driving you insane is angry and full of grief. The passive aggressive deals with anger in one of two ways. Either they have no control over their anger or they have problems expressing their anger.
Is Your Passive Aggressive Husband Withholding Sex?
The passive aggressive man uses sex to punish his wife. Have you ever had a wonderful day with your husband only to be rejected sexually at the end of the day? You lay in bed replaying the events of the day in your head. There were no arguments; you both appeared to be enjoying yourself.
Recovering From Passive Aggressive Behavior
Comments from a reader in treatment for Passive Aggressive Behavior.
Help For Victims of Domestic Abuse
Links to resources such as state laws pertaining to domestic violence, programs offering assistance and other information to help victims and families of victims of domestic violence.
What Passive Aggressive Behaviors Have You Experienced?
Is your spouse passive aggressive? Passive aggressive behavior is a form of covert abuse. When someone hits you or yells at you, you know that you've been abused. It is obvious and easily identified. Covert abuse is subtle and veiled or disguised by actions that appear to be normal, at times loving and caring.
The Need to Control And It’s Relationship to Abuse
Verbal abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse all come from a need to control. The more research I do on the subject and the more I deal with clients in abusive relationships the more I come to believe that to be true.
Male Victims Of Domestic Abuse
When we ignore male victims of domestic abuse, we also ignore their children, who continue to be damaged by witnessing the violence regardless of how severe it is.
What is a Restraining Order?
A Restraining Order is a court order intended to protect you from further harm from someone who has hurt you; to keep the abuser away from you, or to stop harassing you, or keep the abuser from the scene of the violence.
Withholding Sex as a Form of Punishment
In the beginning, your spouse was charming and quite appealing. You had no problems with intimacy. Your spouse couldn't keep his/her hands off of you. You felt desired, cherished and loved. Before long, the atmosphere changed. Your spouse became less and less interested in sex.
Preparing To Leave An Abusive Marriage
Abuse is about control. Aggression is primitive and immature reactions to a sense of helplessness and feeling a loss of control by the abuser. If you are preparing to leave an abusive marriage you should expect the abuser to feel even less control. In other words, expect problems and be prepared for problems.
Top 7 Reasons People Stay in Abusive Marriages
What motivates a person to stay in a relationship that causes them emotional and physical pain?
Negative Effects of Domestic Violence
The longer domestic violence continues the more negative the effects on the victim. It is crucial to the physical, psychological and social well fare of the victim that they recognize abuse and remove themselves from the situation quickly.
Are Your Spouse’s Behaviors Ambiguous?
Are your spouse's behaviors ambiguous? If your spouse’s behaviors are ambiguous, you are constantly receiving mixed messages. More than likely you spend a great amount of time trying to figure out what was meant by certain words or actions.
Fear of Dependency And The Passive Aggressive
Some spouses have a hard time letting their partner know they have any needs at all. These spouses have a “fear of dependency.” Their fear of becoming dependent upon their spouse is so strong that it is imperative to them to remain completely dependent and self-sufficient, not ever admitting to any needs.
Domestic Abuse and Alcohol
Statistics seem to indicate a connection between alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence, but some researchers question the cause-and-effect relationship.
Verbal Abuse - Were You A Victim Of Verbal Abuse?
A master at verbal abuse can damage your self-esteem while, at the same time, appear to care deeply for you. The use of words to punish is a covert attempt to control and regardless of how loving your spouse may appear, verbal abuse is wrong and can be just has harmful as physical abuse.
Same-Sex Partner Domestic Violence
Gays and lesbians are susceptible to domestic violence just as any other individual.
When Is Forgetfulness Abuse?
Is your spouse forgetful? Espcially when it comes to things that are important to you. Forgetfulness can be a form of covert abuse.
Blame In Marital Relationships
When I think about a climate of blame in a marital relationship, I think of the negative effect it has on a marriage.
The Fear of Expressing Anger
Some people have a fear of anger and of expressing their anger. This is invariably because they come from a family where one or both of their parents or other caregivers were angry in a mean, violent way – a way that caused harm to others.
Passive Aggressive Obstructionism
Obstructionism is the deliberate obstruction of progress. The passive aggressive person obstructs progress by resisting following through with expectations in interpersonal relationships
Male Victims of Domestic Abuse
Over three million American men each year are the victims of abuse within their relationship.

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