How can I tell if someone is being hurt? When someone is being hurt by a dating partner, there are often (but not always) signs that something is wrong. If you know what to look for, you can recognize abuse and help a friend who may be in a dangerous relationship.

Things to Look For:

Visible injuries: visible injuries are a good indicator that someone is being hurt by a dating partner. Injuries around the head, neck, and chest area are often signs of abuse. So is bruising on the upper arms from being grabbed. Injuries that your friend is trying to hide or won't talk to you about, and injuries in various stages of healing are other signs.

Controlling partner: if your friend's partner tells her what to do, where she can go, or who she can see, that's a warning sign. It's also a warning sign if your friend always has to make excuses for a partner's behavior or seems afraid of the partner's temper. You should also be concerned if your friend doesn't seem like herself (or himself) whenever the partner is around.

Isolation: you should be concerned if your friend's partner is keeping your friend away from you. If you can't ever see your friend without the partner also being there, or if your friend's partner controls her interaction with you, those are also warning signs.

Public ridicule: if your friend's partner is putting her down or making mean jokes where other people can see it, there's probably worse happening in private. Making fun of a partner or shaming the person in front of friends, classmates, or even family is a very bad sign.

Changes in behavior and emotion: if your friend doesn't seem quite the same, you should be concerned. Emotional outbursts, nervousness, fright, exhaustion, depression, withdrawal, being anxious or on edge: all of these are warning signs.