The Importance Of Abusive Relationships

In a society focused on a healthy diet for healthy life, we tend to forget an important aspect of achieving this goal. Whether it is on social media, television shows, a movie, or any social event, one of the major components of life on a day to day basis are relationships. Relationships can include anything from family, friends, and/or partners that we are able to connect with in some way. They are there to share experiences with you, have conversations with, and overall make life a little less lonely. While everyone has those people who they love so much and would go through thick and thin with, there are those who are not the same. They are the ones where the road does not go in both directions. Those who share personal secrets, treat their

Most people would deny that they are in an abusive relationship because it is either all that they know or they confuse it with love. This confusion comes with the fact that abuse is not sudden, rather built up over time. The relationship may start with healthy, loving, and normal behavior, but then it can alter into what would classify as abuse. Mrs. Berry, the high school medical program teacher, stated that, "The person [the abused] is trained to become controlled, so when they [the abuser] control a person, it might start with just 'No, you can't wear that', and then it progresses: 'No, you can't hang out with that person. I'm the only person that will love you like this.' They build on it, and over a period of time you don't realize you're being controlled, because you find out you think it's

According to psychologytoday.com, the "Cycle of Violence" includes tension, attack, remorse, love, and repeat. The cycle may occur day-by-day, weeks at a time, or over a monthly period. Each time the cycle repeats, it gets worse and worse, to the point where it is too much to handle. The effects of the abuse can definitely take its toll on someone, leading to low self-esteem, depression and/or regression, poor grades and cooperation in class, anxiety, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts and actions. Ryan Sanchez*, a student at Somerset, stated that, "During and after my relationship, I experienced a lot of high anxiety, frequent emotional break-downs, a period of depression, self-harming, and suicidal thoughts. I still stayed with that person because I loved them and did not know any better. I thought the abuse was normal, I could handle it on their own, and it would go away eventually, but it didn't and it was