Too often when a woman decides to stick it out with their abusive partner people are eager to make statements like, ‘You’re being stupid’ and ‘Why aren’t you thinking straight?’.

While it’s hard to say goodbye to someone you love, chances are that the toxic relationship is draining you of your happiness and could make you a victim of PTSD.

Look out for these signs that your relationship isn’t good for your health:

  1. The start of the relationship is normal and doesn’t start off on an abusive note.
  2. Slowly though red flags start to emerge like a short temper, possessiveness, anger and so on. You’ll more than likely make excuses for them, or haven’t noticed them.
  3. You do your best to keep your relationship from failing. You ignore the fact that things aren’t fine, you keep the ugly side hidden and you keep your relationship from falling apart.
  4. You grasp at straws for why you should stay. You tell yourself you’ve put so much into this relationship, it’s okay if he gets upset once in a while. You stay because you don’t want your children to grow up without their father. You can’t leave them because of financial issues. The reasons why you need to stay will go on, but the thing you should really do is leave.
  5. Living with someone who is abusive towards you can muddle your mind and body. You’ll forget what it was like to be happy, you’ll have lost your self-esteem and feel crippled. Maybe your partner has convinced you to stay because you won’t be anything without them and say you’ll be worse off if you leave.
  6. One day you’ll look in the mirror and see that you aren’t the person you once were. You’ll realize that you’ve put all of your energy towards saving a relationship that isn’t worth saving.
  7. Then you’ll realize PTSD is slowly creeping into your life. It’s the psychological abuse that will hurt your mind. Physical wounds will heal but the emotional damage will stay with you forever. Soon you’ll become depressed and stressed. PTSD will make you feel like all of the life has been drained out of you.

The most important thing to do is seek help as soon as you open your eyes and realize that you’re not okay. Seek therapy and most importantly tell yourself that you can leave. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, it’s time to move on and be happy once again.

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