Abusive Romantic Relationships have a long-term impact on women's mental health Final Draft

 Abusive Romantic Relationships have a long-term impact on women's mental health 

 

 

A Girl With Writing On Her Back Stating “Love Shouldn’t Hurt”  

 

 Have you ever been in or seen a relationship where a woman does not feel safe? Every time I think about this question, I get gut wrenching memories of my friend Avas abusive relationship. Abusive Relationships are a lot more common than one would think. “Worldwide, almost one-third (27%) of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner (World Health Organization)”. What do you think of when you hear about an abusive relationship? Is it mostly about physical abuse, or do you also think about the long-term effects of mental abuse in an abusive relationship? Abusive relationships do usually consist of both physical and mental health, but mental health is not as focused on as physical is.  

 

Although physical health is especially important for one's wellbeing, when mental health is affected in an abusive relationship there are a lot more long-term problem. Mental health is all about a person's emotional and psychological status. When a person's mental health is affected, people cannot function properly.  

  

Abusive relationships have a significant impact on women in the world. An article by National Library of Medicine states, "Qualitative studies that have been undertaken conclude that it is just as damaging to one's health to be continuously psychologically abused as it is to be physically abused”. When violence is brought up in a relationship one's mind always goes to the physical aspect of it. However, the mental aspect of it is just as impacting 

 

PTSD is a mental illness that has many impacts on a person's daily life. PTSD is caused when someone has experienced a traumatic event. The brain can't process the event because of how traumatic it was leaving the person with nightmares, flashbacks and major anxiety. Some symptoms are being scared easily, trouble sleeping and intense anger.  

 

It is clearly seen that mental abuse on a woman is just as important as the physical aspect of abuse. Women that suffered from mental abuse must deal with many issues in the long run. As seen in many cases of a veterans, PTSD is also seen in cases of abusive relationships. Written in National Center for PTSD , “Certain types of traumas are more common in women. Women are also more likely to have PTSD... five out of ten women experience a traumatic event”. If a man was in an abusive relationship, they would be less likely to get PTSD and be less affected by it. 

 

Anxiety and depression are also very commonly seen in a woman who have gone through mental abuse in a romantic relationship.  Anxiety is when one gets an overwhelming feeling, intense fear and nervousness. Depression is having no drive and being very sad all the time. Both mental illnesses can have severe impacts on women in the long run. This can result in isolation and possibly an attempt at suicide.  

 

As stated in the journal from the American Psychological Association, “In a study of newlyweds, psychological IPA predicted greater depression and anxiety even after controlling for physical IPA”. As studies show anxiety and depression both increase through intimate partner aggression even without having a physical abuse aspect to it. This proves that mental health is just as important. 

 

Some may believe that physical abuse is much worse than mental abuse. However, I disagree. Although physical abuse can cause injuries and pain, people will recover from it. Mental illness is something that sticks with someone the rest of their life. Neither is safe but being treated with mental illness does not work for everyone. Healing from physical aspects most of the time is successful.  

 

The impacts that abusive relationships have on one's mental health are very extreme. Women are suffering every day of their lives trying to cope with their demons. PTSD, Anxiety, Depression are all results of an intimate partner being abusive. People need to act and help women that are in an abusive relation get away. This applies to any relationship, not just intimate. As Mandy Hale says, “Leaving someone who treats you bad doesn't mean you stop loving them...it just means you started loving you”.