The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) estimated the following data:
- A woman is beaten every 18 seconds
- 21% of all women that enter emergency rooms have been abused
- 39% of all women that are murdered, are murdered by their husbands, boyfriends, or ex-partners
- 50% of African American women suicides are due to battering
“Women living in violent relationships pay a heavy price with their physical and mental health and sometimes even their lives”
Randall, 1990
Domestic violence is defined as an adult member of the household using physical force against another member. Historically, this is known as wife beating. Psychological and physical trauma can result from repeated violent attempts at abuse. Women experience
- Humiliation
- Shame
- Paralyzing fear
- The threat of life
- Thoughts of suicide
Studies show that particular symptoms seen in abused women are actually a syndrome, a clinical diagnosis. Walker, author of The Battered Syndrome based the research for this book on a study of battered women. They found that the syndrome developed from the abuse, rather than being the cause of it. The study was regulated at the Battered Women’s Research Center at Colorado Women’s College of over 400 battered women in the Rocky Mountain region (1978-1981). From the interviews Walker discovered the women believed they were helpless in trying to escape the abusive relationships. They felt they had no control over what was happening in their lives.
Symptoms of Verbal and Psychological Abuse
Abused women experience the following symptoms:
- Headaches
- Have trouble sleeping
- Backaches
- Tiredness
- Depression
- Anxiety
Cycles of Violence
Battering occurs in repeated cycles:
- Phase One: Tension building
- Phase Two: Severe battering
- Phase Three: Honeymoon Stage – repeated apologies, offering of gifts, and seeking forgiveness for the violence
Profiles That Characterize the Male Abuser
- Power/control battered – The male uses violence to control the victim for own desires
- Mentally ill batterer – The effects of mental illness affects the aggressive behavior
Personality of the Batterer
Domestic violence does not occur because the female instigates it. Abuse occurs because of witnessed abusive behavior in childhood. The father is notably strict. The mother is inconsistent and cautious in order to pacify the father’s brutal and violent behavior. Women sometimes learn to appease the male’s behavior because of early conditioning in childhood where women are taught by their mother to smooth over tense situations in the home.
The abuser:
- Ridicules and insults women as a group
- Ridicules beliefs, race, and religion
- Withholds affection, approval, and appreciation
- Constantly criticizes through name-calling and shouting
- Humiliates the victim in public
- Refuses to socialize
- Controls all money and decisions
- Refuses to work
- Takes the keys from the victim
- Threatens harm and abandonment
- Threatens to kidnap children
- Manipulates and lies
- Destroys furniture
- Punches holes in walls and breaks appliance
- Tortures animals and kills pets
- Uses weapons and guns to threaten
Violence and abuse are never excuses for administering harm on another individual. Women that become victims from the trauma of the abuse are at risk not only for serious developing psychological complications but more importantly, their lives.
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