Why Are Women Victims of Domestic Violence?

Why are women victims of domestic violence?

Domestic violence is a type of abuse.  It is an international public health problem.

Domestic abuse comprises of financial, emotional, physical, psychological, sexual, and overly coercive or controlling behavior.

People don’t often report domestic violence, so it’s difficult to know how common domestic violence is.

It happens to people of all ages, incomes, and education.  It involves injuring a spouse, partner, child, parent, or other family members.

Victims suffer from depression, anxiety, or social isolation.

Domestic Violence is Linked to Mental Disorders

Recent reports suggest that victims of domestic violence are common among people with mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, eating, obsessive compulsive, personality, bipolar, and post-traumatic stress disorders.

Women with these disorders are more likely to become victims of domestic violence.

For instance, women who show signs and symptoms of depression are 2.5 times likely to experience domestic violence in their lifetime.

Additionally, women with anxiety disorders are 3.5 times more likely to report abuse.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), close to 3 in 10 women experience physical violence, rape, or stalking by a partner.  In 2010, eighty-two percent of 1,336 homicides in the United States were females.

Plan for Your Safety

It is important that you have a safety plan of action if you are in an abusive relationship.  There are domestic violence advocates to help you create a safety plan.

Advocates will do the following for a victim:

• Discuss how to deal with emergencies
• Provide support
• Suggest services
• Find ways to leave an abuser
• Suggest safe places to go, like a home of a friend or family member where your abuser might not know to look, or where you can find a shelter
• Assist you in learning about a court order protection, which demands that your abuser is to stay away from you

You can get help at the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.

Preview the following informative video from “Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America“

Keep in mind, just because a woman leaves an abuser does not necessarily mean she is safe.

Contrarily, sometimes they are in greater danger right after they leave.

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