I believe that as a society, we have not been doing enough to stop abuse from happening.
Most people who have been in abusive relationships will understand the link between suffering abuse and emotional pain and the state of their physical health.
However when most of us in western society experience a physical symptom, we are likely to visit our general practitioner and be given a drug to numb the symptoms.
This can provide short term relief. However the cause of the symptom is thus enabled to continue. The person is therefore likely to need increasing amounts of the drug in order to cope with everyday life. This does not lead to quality of life.
Being in an abusive relationship is one example of this. Many people who have been abused end up having treatment for physical or mental health problems. Our society expects them to take a drug and get on with it. The problem is that the abuser is still out there carrying on the same behaviour. Even if this particular person leaves the abuser, the abuser will find somebody else to inflict harm upon.
My message to targets of abuse is that you should not have to suffer. You deserve to live a happy life. In fact it is our responsibility to take care of ourselves. Many people who have been abused by others believe it is their duty to care-take others above themselves. Abusers can sniff out these type of people, like blood to a shark. We need to take back our power so that we can no longer be so attractive to those who want to take all they can from us, without any concern for our own well-being. People do not treat us how we treat THEM: they treat us how we treat OURSELVES.