Psychological abuse has been identified as a main feature of violent relationships as researchers find patterns that can help inform interventions and prevention.
For the first time in Australia, survivors of abusive relationships were asked to document the sequence of behaviours that led to violence.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne and the Royal Women's Hospital surveyed more than 800 women nationally about their most recent violent relationship.
The resulting timeline showed psychological abuse was a feature of most violent relationships and almost always underpinned physical and sexual abuse.
Psychological abuse often began before couples moved in together, while physical and sexual abuse came later.
Many women said the earliest indication that something was wrong was being isolated from others and feeling controlled by their partner.
Survivor and advocate Lily told AAP early abusive behaviours could be extremely difficult to identify.
"Abuse starts so subtly. They don't hit you on the first day," she said.
"This makes it really hard for women to see (the abuse) before they make that bigger commitment like buying a house or choosing to have children."
For survivors with children, physical and sexual abuse often emerged after they had married or moved in together.
The timeline indicated that, on average, childbirth was followed by increasingly severe sexual violence.
The study was unique because it was the first to ask survivors to lay out the order in which different abusive behaviours happened in their relationship, research fellow Elizabeth McLindon said.
"We found a clear pattern of abuse escalating over time (and) this fits with what's known as coercive control, where behaviours become increasingly controlling and harmful," she said.
"By mapping this overall timeline, we're learning a lot about when and how early intervention could be most effective."
The study found patterns of abuse were often marked by important life events such as living together or having children.
"This has clear messages for policy and lawmakers about what points we need to be intervening in," Dr McLindon said.
"There are progressive levels of entrapment and more harmful, abusive behaviour as time goes on."
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