Forms of Domestic Violence

Forms of Domestic Violence

Forms of DV range from physical assault to verbal threats to psychological abuse. Frequent verbal threats associated with relationship conflict are a strong predictor of acts of physical violence. It is hypothesized that alcohol and drug abuse may be excuses for abusers to drop accountability for behaviors they have given warning about.

Abusers are often violent only to their partners and present themselves in a harmonious manner to non-intimate others. Many batterers eventually stop using physical violence when they realize it is too objectively documented and likely to be reported. They substitute psychological abuse and intimidation in its place.

Domination in the intimate partnership is maintained through invalidation, put-downs, blaming and shaming, insistence on servitude, social isolation, withholding of finances, sabotaging the partner’s efforts to get and hold a job, using the children as pawns, instituting fear, and general crazy-making tactics.

Instant Feedback:

Perpetrators of DV usually have difficulty in all their interpersonal relationships.

True
False