Life after Domestic Abuse
Domestic abuse affects everyone differently. Your recovery likely will depend on the experiences that you have had.
Domestic abuse affects everyone differently and how you start to recover will will depend on a number of things, such as the type of abuse you experienced and coping mechanisms you developed to survive the abuse, whether you have experienced abuse in the past and whether or not you have support from friends and family.
Regardless of your experience, domestic abuse causes great trauma in a person's life, and recovery can take time.
Leaving an abusive relationship can be the beginning of a process of healing and recovering. There is a range of common reactions that you may experience. These may include:
- Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
- Feeling fearful or anxious
- Feeling irritable or angry
- Flashbacks to the abuse
- Feeling sad
- Feelings of grief or loss
You might notice that your reactions to the abuse may have been useful survival techniques while you were in the relationship but if they continue after the abuse has stopped they can become a problem. For example, always being on the alert is useful for avoiding an attack but will increase your stress if you are no longer in danger.
All of these feelings and experiences are normal and are a part of the recovery process. However if any of them become overpowering and prevent you from carrying out daily tasks like eating, looking after yourself, going to work and maintaining relationships with friends or family, you might seek professional support from a counsellor.