Guest Lecture: Healthy Relationships in College and Beyond

     A guest lecture, presented by Tara Misra of UGA's Health Center, touched on the topic of healthy relationships, and more specifically, what abusive relationships look like and how to avoid them. Tara talked about a few statistics. These statistics surprised me because of the large percentage of people who report they are in abusive relationships. Furthermore, Tara said that these numbers were fairly inaccurate because many abusive relationships go unreported.
     This topic was interesting to me because many college students are in relationships or are looking to be in a relationship. Knowing what to look for in a healthy relationship is crucial. Tara touched on some things in the presentation that I didn't realize would be considered abuse, so this can help me become a better significant other to someone else, and can help me look out for things in other people.
     As a college student who is about to enter the "real world", Tara's guest lecture is very pertinent to my life. Having healthy relationships with those around me will make me a better person. People will respect me more because I know how to respect others. It is also important to note that this lecture can also be applied to other realms of one's life--just not romantic relationships. This lecture can apply to social relationships with your peers, relationships with your family, and relationships with those you work with.
     This topic relates to public health because being in relationships, whether they are healthy or unhealthy, can directly affect the other aspects of wellness. As Tara pointed out in the beginning of her lecture, "relationships can affect all spheres of the Healthy Dog." The six spheres that relationships can affect are; emotional, intellectual, physical, environmental, social, and spiritual. Being in an unhealthy relationship can negatively impact all six of these spheres differently.
     After the lecture, I felt much more educated about having healthy relationships while being in college but I have one question; "To what degree should someone report an emotionally abusive relationship?" It seems to me that there are many degrees of emotionally abusive relationships (from being not so severe to being very severe). So at what point should someone report that?