Am I experiencing domestic abuse?
Domestic abuse refers to a single incident or a recurring pattern of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading, or violent behaviour, including sexual violence. It’s typically carried out by a partner, ex-partner, family member, or carer. Sadly, it’s all too common—1 in 6 women over the age of 16 will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lives. If you think you might be experiencing abuse, take our Relationships Questionnaire.
Disclaimer: Throughout this quiz, we refer to ‘your partner,’ but these experiences can also occur in other relationships, such as a family member or carer.
If you answer yes to one or more of the below questions, this indicates that you may be experiencing domestic abuse. Even answering yes to one of these is enough reason to seek support. People’s experiences of abuse are diverse and this list isn’t exhaustive so even if you don’t recognise your experience here, that doesn’t mean what you’re experiencing isn’t abuse. If something doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t. If you feel unsure or uneasy, don’t hesitate to reach out for help or contact one of our support services. You don’t have to face this alone.
This isn’t healthy; if your partner cares about you, they should respect that you must spend time with others you love and even encourage it.
Preventing you from seeing your friends and family is a form of abuse. This may not always involve outright forbidding you from seeing them; it could also involve creating conflict that makes it seem easier to avoid your loved ones or manipulate you into believing they are not supportive or trustworthy. They may have attempted to keep you in the house. By keeping you at home your abuser is trying to isolate you from the outside world and limit your freedom and options of accessing help. Isolation is a type of coercive control and can be used by abusers to separate you from your support system; without access to your support system, you are easier to control. If you answered this question ‘yes’, we’d encourage you to reach out for support.