More often than not, women find themselves being the subject of abuse in relationships. Particularly in a marital relationships because marriage is often a relationship where abuse is common and tolerated for long term. According to the national statistics, nearly 20 people per minute are abused each day, which equals to 10 million people per year. This covers women, men and children, but for the sake of this blog, I will cover the statistics for women.
1 in 4 women experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner contact sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, use of victim services, contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, etc.
1 in 3 women have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. This includes a range of behaviors (e.g. slapping, shoving, pushing) and in some cases might not be considered "domestic violence."
1 in 4 women have been victims of severe physical violence (e.g. beating, burning, strangling) by an intimate partner in their lifetime.1
1 in 7 women have been stalked by an intimate partner during their lifetime to the point in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.1
On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide.
The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.
Women between the ages of 18-24 are most commonly abused by an intimate partner.
Domestic victimization is correlated with a higher rate of depression and suicidal behavior.
ARE YOU IN AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP AND DON'T KNOW IT?
What a question to ask...right? Wouldn't someone know if they are in an abusive relationship? Not if it is narcissistic abuse. Domestic violence (also referred to as intimate partner violence (IPV), dating abuse, or relationship abuse) is a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship. That includes behaviors that physically harm, intimidate, manipulate or control a partner, or otherwise force them to behave in ways they don’t want to, including through physical violence, threats, emotional abuse, or financial control.
Physical abuse sometimes can be seen due to physical signs of injury, a person can be arrested and a restraining order can be issued against the abuser. Even people would readily advise to remove yourself out of that situation. However, narcissistic abuse is not seen in the physical by others and often it is not known by the one being abused or believed by others that it is a form of abuse.
Narcissistic abuse is more common than we know and it is being represented in believers, CEOs of companies, astute looking families, Pastors, mothers and fathers, etc. Having a narcissistic behavior is the worse character a person can have. It is in both men and women. It is a behavior that comes with much manipulation, rage, gaslighting and stonewalling. But it also comes with love bombing and trauma bonding where the person draws you in to their world for you to let your guard down and then emotionally withdraws to keep you in the cycle. This cycle will have you second guessing yourself and not trusting your good judgement. It keeps you in spiral of addictive like attachments. This is the type of abuse that shows no marks on the skin, a person can't be arrested for it and it is often not believed because most people can't conceive how your "loving" spouse who shows public display of affection and kindness to others can be a monster at home and when no one is looking. In the next few blogs, we will dig deeper in what is Narcissistic abuse and how they are attracted to kind hearted, solid and codependent people.
Go on this journey with me as we uncover and expose this type of behavior that is silently destroying the lives of people more often than you realize. If you feel you are in an abusive relationship, please seek help by calling the abuse hotline, talking with a trusted friend or family, a therapist, and listen to videos or read books. This will give you direction and courage to remove yourself out of this toxic situation.
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