Emotional/Mental/Verbal
  • Using put-downs, insults, name calling, humiliation
  • Threatening to harm or kill family, friends, a new partner, pets, etc.
  • Threatening to commit suicide if a partner leaves
  • Making threats like, “If you leave me I’ll…spread rumors about you, tell your parents we had sex”, etc.
  • Blaming the person who is being abused for the abuse or for all the problems in the relationship
  • Minimizing or denying abusive behavior, playing mind games
  • Possessiveness and/or constant accusations of cheating
    • Physical Abuse
  • Hitting, grabbing, pushing, shaking, restraining you physically, etc.
  • Intimidation (blocking exits/doors, hitting things or throwing objects at or near partner)
  • Using or threatening to use weapons
  • Stalking
    • Sexual Abuse
  • Ignoring partner’s sexual choice(s) through pressure, manipulation, coercion (e.g. saying, “You’d do it if you loved me”)
  • Rape: Forced penetration without consent (including use of intimidation, threats, weapons, etc.)
  • Sexual Assault: Forced sexual contact
  • Sexual Harassment: Unwanted sexual attention
    • Financial Abuse
  • Controlling all money, using money to threaten or manipulate
  • Controlling possessions like a car, phones, clothes, jewelry
  • Excessive gift giving with strings attached, for example “I gave you this, now you owe me”
  • Using gifts to make up for abusive behavior
  • Sabotaging a partner’s work or school career, for example harassing a partner at work and causing them to get fired or refusing to give a partner a ride to work or school, etc.
    • Social Abuse
  • Spreading rumors or using blackmail to control a partner’s actions
  • Keeping a partner “in check” by monitoring their cell phone constantly or using friends to keep tabs on them
  • Isolating a partner from her/his friends and family
  • Using religion/culture to control a partner
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