Abusive partners generate confusion. You know something’s wrong with your relationship, but you often can’t explain what. And when you’ve tried to air a complaint with your partner, it’s often twisted back on you, and you are told or made to believe that your view is wrong or irrelevant.
When you begin to contemplate leaving the relationship, you may be confused about how your partner will retaliate when he or she realises you’re not coming back. Trust your instincts. You know your partner better than anyone else. Research suggests that your intuition is the best predictor of whether your partner will become violent.
The risk of lethal violence has been found to increase at and immediately after separation. Below are links to two Risk Assessment Tools, which form checklists of risk factors. But these checklists should not replace your own instincts. Extreme violence has occurred even in cases when none of the risk factors are present.
