Summary: An abusive marriage can be one of the worst situations you can find yourself in. But abuse isn't always as obvious and direct as a balled up fist. There are lots of situations which should be labeled as abuse which aren't, and some situations which are incorrectly assumed to be abusive in nature. In this, the first part of our mini-series of episodes on abuse, we look at how to identify and define different forms of abusive behavior.<br> <br> Abuse can include any form of physical violence and a whole range of emotional and psychological behaviors. This can include insults, forcing your partner to be isolated or subservient, belittling their opinions or controlling different aspects of their life.<br> <br> There are also three important criteria to separate isolated incidents of bad behavior from full-on abuse: it has to be recurring, it has to include more than one type of action, and it has to be displayed without awareness, accepting responsibility or any willingness to change.
