Victims of abuse are often full of intense and often conflicting emotions. People that have not been in an abusive relationship cannot understand how you can still love or care about someone that abuses you. Emotions cannot be turned on or off like a light. You can feel quite torn between loving the person and being afraid of them. You may experience all feelings listed or just a few. Sometimes feelings may flow from one to another and back again. Holding on to negative emotions slowly kills the your spirit.

alienation anxiety
chronic fear co-dependency
depression dispair
failure feeling incompetant
grief involuntary fear
irritability low self-esteem
mistrust or dislike of opposite gender numb
self-blame self-doubt
self hatred supressed anger
vulnerability worthlessness

Abuse can affect a persons health. Stress has detrimental effect on a person's health. Illnesses already present may worsen with the stress.

Otherwise healthy people may have physical reactions to stress.

Stress Reactions May Cause Or Worsen:
Alcoholism Allergic skin reactions
Anorexia Anxiety attacks
Bulimia Chronic Fatigue
Concentration difficulties that result in such as decreased job performance
Depression Drug abuse
Headaches Heart palpitations
High blood pressure Insomnia
Irritable bowel syndrome Memory loss
Overeating Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome
Premature labor and/or low birth-weight infant
Stomach ailments, ulcers
And many others............

Note: These lists are not comprehensive. Your particular situation may be somewhat different. If you feel you are being abused, seek professional counseling. Nothing in this checklist should be considered a substitute for counseling.

If you feel you are in an abusive relationship, get help now!
You can take the first step by calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) (TDD 1-800-787-3224) or go to http://www.ndvh.org .