Feelings

"If this is love, why do I feel so bad?"

Often the first indication that there is something wrong in the way your boyfriend treats you is how you feel. You feel uneasy, tense, confused, like something isn't right. Below is a list of some of the ways that girls say they felt when they were with an abusive boyfriend.

• Pressured
• Confused
• Guilty, like you are not good enough
• Angry
• Uncomfortable
• Scared
• Nervous or tense
• Humiliated
• Bad about yourself
• Trapped
• Restricted or controlled (like you have to watch what you do or say)
• Upset

Listening to your feelings is important. Think about how you feel when you are with your boyfriend. Do you feel any of these things when you are with him?

Abuse can have an affect on you in all sorts of ways, such as

• not sleeping properly
• nausea or headaches
• abusing alcohol or drugs
• anxiety or depression
• missing classes, wagging school or taking days off work
• lower marks at school or Uni
• constantly trying to do what he wants
• not communicating with your parents or family, or lying to them because they might blame you somehow or stop you from going out
• feeling like you can't trust people
• losing touch with who you are and what is important to you, your own opinions, feelings, friends, family
• having less confidence in yourself
• feeling alone and afraid to tell anyone