People hear the word "abuse" and automatically assume its physical: hitting, kicking, throwing. But abuse has many different faces and when it comes to relationships, possibly one of the lesser-known and often unnoticed is emotional abuse. So what is emotional abuse? It's a difficult question to answer. Emotional abuse, like physical abuse, is an attempt to control another person, but instead of getting physical, an emotional abuser uses emotions as their weapon of choice. It can be anything from being jealous all the time to threatening to kill themselves if you leave them.

So you may be asking yourself, why should I believe anything this 21-year-old college girl tells me? My answer? I've been there. I've been in a relationship that was so toxic, so mentally draining, so emotionally and nearly physically abusive. So, I get it. Looking back, I wish I would have noticed sooner that the relationship was abusive. I thought abuse was only physical. I thought if he didn't physically hurt me it was normal — not abuse. I wish someone would have told me sooner...or at least shown me the signs of a toxic relationship before I got in too deep.