Did you know...

A woman in a confusing or hard relationship might not know she is being abused. 

Often times, controlling behaviors creep in slowly and will begin to become accustomed to the unhealthy things she is experiencing and even start to blame herself for them.

If you are a safe person for her, you can help her understand that her relationship might be unhealthy (be careful using the word abuse - try "hard", or "scary", or "controlling" or "unhealthy"). However, even without knowing it and with the best of intentions, you can cause her harm if you offer relationship advice that is for normal relationship conflict.

These questions are a good place to start (ask gently & without judgment):

• Does it seem as though everything that goes wrong in your relationship is blamed on you?
• Do you feel nervous around your spouse but you can't put your finger on why?
• Does your mental sanity come up often?
• Did you relationship go from fairytale to nightmare?
• Are you criticized for everything you do?
• Do you feel like a different person than you were before you were married?