Basic Red Flags for Domestic Violence

Below are some red flags or warning signs of an abusive partner. To help you remember these I’ve come up with an acronym for you – BASIC

Blame – You made me do this, this is your fault.

Anger – Overreactions to small problems, threatening/violent behavior to make the partner afraid

Sabotage – Destroys their partners self-esteem, causes them to miss work/school.

Isolation & Intensity – insists on being with partner only and at all times, prevents partner from being with friends and family – behaviors intensify over time – obsessively calling, emailing or texting, violence gets more extreme – verbal to physical

Control & Criticism – tells their partner what to do, makes decisions for them, checks up on them often, going through their belongings such as phone calls, texts, emails etc. Constantly putting the partner down, name-calling, claiming they are the only one that cares. Brainwashing to cause partner to feel worthless.

This list is not exhaustive and is a meant to help you have a basic awareness of patterns and behaviors that are common to abusive partners.