ABSTRACT
Relational Dialectics eory (RDT) allows us to understand meaning making within relationships by examining how our contradictory needs, such as privacy and openness, are represented in discourses (Baxter, 2011). I use RDT to frame my personal narrative detailing a history with physical abuse through a discussion of the competing discourses of family love and support and abuse. I explore how tangled the dialectics become through words, action, and silence within a family unit and organize the essay by four dialectics that define my relationships of abuse: dominant/marginal, organization/chaos, privileged/marginalized, and daughter/spouse.
