Domestic Violence and the Physicological Affects

Domestic violence is presented throughout all the United States, whether the people of society recognize it, or it is under the radar and not seen. Domestic violence can be distinct in many ways because there are several diverse types of domestic abuse. Domestic violence are behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other. Partners may be married or not married, heterosexual, gay or lesbian, living together, separated or dating (Siemieniuk, 2010). Abuse is physical, sexual, emotional, economic, psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person.

This includes any behaviors that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure, or wound someone.

Domestic violence can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, economic class, immigration status, religion, or gender. Domestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels. Women are more likely than men to go through domestic violence. Worldwide, victims are more women and women tend to experience more severe forms of violence (Brewster, 2003). In this research, this will determine what domestic violence is and how it affects women psychologically and long-term health effects.

Domestic violence often occurs when the abuser believes that abuse is a right, acceptable, vindicated, or unlikely to be reported. In abusive relationships, there may be a cycle of abuse during which tension rise and an act of violence are committed, followed by a period of understanding and calm. Victims of domestic violence may be trapped in domestic violent situations through isolation, power, and control, traumatic bonding to the abuser, cultural acceptance, lack of financial resources, fear, shame, or to protect children (Shorrey, 2008). Due to abuse, victims may experience physical incapacities, dysregulated aggression, chronic health problem, mental illness, limited finances, and poor ability to create healthy relationships. The many forms of domestic violence are physical, emotional, sexual, and economic abuse.

Physical abuse is the involving contact intended to cause fear, pain, injury, and other physical suffering or body harm (Jewkes, 2002). The dynamics of physical abuse in a relationship are often multifaceted. Physical abuse may contain more than one user and more than one target. Physical violence can be the peak of other abusive actions such as threats, bullying, and limitations of victim self-determination through loneliness, manipulation and other restrictions of personal freedom. It can also include inflicting physical injury onto other targets, such as children or pets, to cause emotional harm to the victim (Jewkes, 2002). Physical abuse can also contain actions such as rejecting the victim of the proper care when needed, depriving the victim of sleep or other purposes essential to living, or compelling the victim to involve in drug/alcohol use against his/her willpower.

Emotional abuse is a form of behavior that threatens, or thoroughly weakens self-respect. Being abused emotionally, includes terrorizations, seclusion, public humiliation, insistent criticism, continuous personal devaluation. Emotional abuse is a painful and serious pattern of abuse in which the primary reason is to control someone by playing with their feelings. Emotional abuse puts actions or statements which are intended to complicate and generate anxiety. This leads the victims to believe that they are making up the abuse or that the abuse is their fault.

Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate companion has control over the partner’s access to economic resources. This abuse may involve preventing your partner from resource acquisition, limiting what the victim many uses, or by otherwise exploiting economic resources of the victim (Brewster, 2003). The purpose behind avoiding your partner from obtaining resources is to weaken a victim’s capacity to support them. Therefore, forcing the victim to depend on their intimate partner.

Sexual abuse is any condition in which force or threat is used to obtain participation in unsolicited sexual activity. Pressuring a person to participate in sexual activity against their will, even if that person is intimate or a spouse with whom consensual sex has occurred, which is an act of hostility and viciousness.

There are numerous theories to the causes of domestic violence. These include psychological concepts that reflect character traits and rational characteristics of the perpetrator as well as social theories which consider peripheral issues in the perpetrator’s situation. There are many philosophies concerning what causes one individual to act violently towards an intimate partner. Psychopathology and other personality disorders are issues, and that abuse experienced as a child leads some to be more violent as adults. Correlation has been found between juvenile delinquency and domestic violence in adulthood (Hamberger, 1991). Abusers facing mental problems tend to be the cause of domestic violence. “”Studies found a high incidence of psychopathy among abusers (Murphy,1993).

Another cause of domestic violence amongst women is jealously. This generally transpires when one partner is either suspected of being unfaithful or is preparing to leave the relationship. Jealously is a common issue in many relationships. It is normal to feel some type of enviously with your companion, but what controls if a person’s relationship actions are healthy, unhealthy or abusive is how they deal with their envious feelings.

Violence is not always caused by stress but may be one way that some people react to stress. Stress can occur when a person is living in a family situation that could surge pressures. Social stresses due to insufficient finances or other such difficulties in a family may further increase strains. Families and couples in poverty may be more likely to experience domestic violence, due to increased stress and conflicts about finances and other aspects (Murphy, 1993).

The effects of domestic violence are very crucial and life-changing. Being psychically abused by your significant other or spouse is very heartbreaking. Bruises, broken bones, head injuries, lacerations, and internal bleeding are some of the acute effects of a domestic violence incident that requires medical attention (Jewkes, 2002). Even chronic health situations connect to victims of domestic violence. Being in a domestic violence relationship while pregnant can be very dangerous to the mother and to the baby. Women who are in violent situations while pregnant should seek help immediately. “”Victims who are pregnant during a domestic violence relationship experience greater risk of miscarriage, pre-term labor, and injury to or death of the fetus (Berrios, 1991).

The psychological effects domestic violence has on victims can be detrimental to their well-being. Victims who continue to live with their abusive partner may experience depression. Victims tend to feel guilty during the depression for infuriating the abuse and are exposed to intense criticism. It is reported that 60% of victims meet the diagnostic criteria for depression, either during or after termination of the relationship, and have a greatly increased risk of suicidal tendencies (Jewkes, 2002). Victims of domestic violence experience a lot of flashbacks and trauma and often cannot function in society.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is branded by recurrences, disturbing images, embroidered frighten responses and hallucinations. Many researchers have stated that PTSD is possibly the best diagnosis for those suffering from psychological effects of violence. In addition, a lot of victims who still live with their perp agonize from high amounts of pressure, horror, and anxiety. Reviews have found that adults who are long-term victims of domestic violence abuse are more likely to suffer from heart conditions, chronic pain conditions and asthma due to long-time exposure to stress.

Occasionally women of domestic violence can be brainwashed to feel that staying with their abuser is acceptable when it comes to financial means. Women who often have children find it very difficult to leave their abuser. They feel as though they are not strong and capable enough to make it on their own. Getting that extra help from their perpetrator makes their life a little better. This issue comes from families and couples in poverty or lack of education.

Researchers believe that families and couples in poverty may be more likely to experience domestic violence, due to increase stress and conflicts about finances and other aspects (Murphy, 1993). The short and long-term effects of residing due to financial reason can be demoralizing. In short-term, access to belongings is domineering to staying safe. Without these assets, some survivors may not be able to obtain safe and affordable housing or the funds to provide for them or their children.

With society’s developing acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, and the cumulative awareness violence affected women, the traditional insight of domestic violence is gradually weakening. However, people are hesitant to believe that women can perform such violence, regardless of whether it is in a homosexual or heterosexual relationship. Both women and men can be the perpetrators or victims in heterosexual or same-sex relationships; sexual characteristic philosophies of domestic violence are outmoded and prejudiced. Researchers Owen and Burke (Alejo, Kavita, 2014) conducted a study to determine the prevalence of domestic violence in same-sex relationships. They predicted to find data supporting other studies, which indicate same-sex relationships are more at threat for domestic violence than heterosexual relationships. These two researchers issued 1,000 surveys to gay and lesbian residents of Virginia. They establish that 56.1% of the participants had been through domestic violence. They determined that domestic violence stances a superior risk against men in homosexual relationships than heterosexual relationships. The two mutual impressions of same-sex domestic violence were that lesbian violence did not transpire because women are not violent, and that heterosexual abuse is simpler than same-sex violence. Believing these delusions can make people think that same-sex violence does not occur. Studies have shown that same-sex violence does not get reported because of the lack of societal support and for fear of being ridiculed by law enforcement (Alejo, Kavita, 2014). Consequently, more studies should be shown to limit the rationality of older studies and to get more truthful figures on violence against men.

Domestic violence can be a severe and life-altering crime both for offenders, victims, and the people affected by those violent situations. In most domestic violence cases men and children victims can be highly looked over because of the stereotypical dynamics of the household. Men are dominant physically in the household so domestic violence in cases where men are assaulted, or their property is damaged are often not seen as a serious offense. Children are under direct supervision of parents and parents hold the right to discipline their children which if used obsessively can cross over into child abuse. For this reason, children can be easily misrepresented in the eyes of the justice system. As a justice system, we must focus more on crime prevention when it comes to domestic violence and ensures that all parties are equally represented under the law.

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