Every Person Should Be Taught the Cycle of Abuse

Why isn’t this taught in schools?

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Every Person Should Know What Abuse Looks Like

Every single person should be taught what abuse looks like, starting in elementary or middle school. I didn’t know what this cycle of abuse was. My family and friends also didn’t know. I knew, and my family and friends knew, on a deeper level, what behavior didn’t feel right. We knew that one person trying to control another didn’t sit right. We probably would condemn it if someone described abusive behavior, and we knew it was upsetting to everyone involved, but we didn’t know it was ‘abuse’.

I’ve had a friend that was physically abused. I’ve had multiple friends and family that were emotionally, and mentally, abused. In fact, I have also been emotionally and mentally abused at different times throughout my life.

My friends and family just thought that abusive person was mean, or controlling, or immature, which, to be fair, are all true.

I, personally, thought abuse was someone physically hitting you, calling you disgusting names, and keeping you from leaving the house. Those things definitely are abuse, but what about the woman that chooses not to leave her house, because that would make her partner go into a rage? To outsiders, it just looks like…