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EMOTIONAL ABUSE:
50% of women will experience some form of Emotional Abuse in their lifetime.
Emotional Abuse is intentional and repeated behavior designed to gain power and control over another through fear, humiliation, verbal and physical abuse. Emotional abuse systematically destroys self-confidence, self-worth, and trust in one's own perceptions.
Examples of emotional abuse can be name-calling, blaming, threatening, humiliating in public, belittling, demeaning, or refusing to communicate. The sole purpose is to bend the victim into total submission giving the abuser total control and power.
2
FINANCIAL ABUSE:
Financial Abuse occurs in 99% of Intimate Partner cases.
Financial Abuse is the NUMBER ONE reason victims remain in an abusive relationship.
Abusers may use economic tactics such as making the victim account for all money spent and given in the form of an allowance, a victim’s money may be spent without their consent or input, bank accounts, bills, personal expenses are controlled by the abuser and the abuser may open credit cards in their name which then the abuser maxes out. Payments on these bills are never made thus ruining the victim’s credit. The abuser may prevent a victim from obtaining further education, training or getting a job. Abusers may use children's savings accounts, or any accounts associated with victim without consultation or permission. The lack of available cash and financial resources traps a victim into remaining in the relationship. There is also fear that the abuser will take custody of their children as they may have control of the finances to do so leaving the victim no choice but to stay.
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SOCIAL ISOLATION:
Social Isolation increases s person's risk of premature death.
Social Isolation is associated with 50% of dementia cases.
Isolation is another tactic of emotional abuse but more difficult for a victim to identify. What begins as loving concern may soon morph into an obsessive need to own their partner. The abuser isolates a victim from their family, friends and ultimately the outside world. It's much easier for an abuser to gain power without the interference of outsiders. Abusers not only isolate the victim's physical being but more importantly their thoughts, desires, values and any possibility of doubt. Once an abuser has the ability to manipulate mental freedom, they have both power and control.
4 PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE:
Intimate partner victimization correlates to a higher rate of depression and suicidal tendencies.
Psychological Abuse like Emotional Abuse cannot be seen. However it’s a more insidious form of abuse. There is fear about what could happen. Abusers threaten to kill their victim. Abusers threaten to kill victim’s children, family, pets. Abusers tell victim that they’re always being watched.
A victim never knows when the abuser is there or what their mood will be, if the house is not clean enough, if dinner is not perfect. There is no reason to what sets off an abuser‘s rage other than feeling out of control. The abuser’s intention is to break the victim, down through manipulation and fear and self doubt. The trauma that psychological abuse causes is one of the most difficult to treat especially as it can be hidden for years, no physical signs.
Trauma can take many forms: sleeplessness, lack of appetite, health issues, depression, apathy, emotional instability, physical pain with no cause.
5 SEXUAL ABUSE:
Victims who are both physically and sexually abused are more likely to be killed than victims who experience one form of abuse.
Sexual violence in an Intimate Partner relationship is attempting to force a partner to take part in a sex act, or sexual touching which their partner does not want or is incapable of giving such consent. In other words, rape.
Sexual Violence is about intimidation, humiliation and degradation. It is about power and control, not love or sex.
Abusers will not allow their partners to use contraception to protect themselves from pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. They may force their partners to make sexually explicit videos and engage in painful and degrading sex acts. An abuser may obstruct contact with doctors. Sexual Abuse victims feel ashamed because their bruises cannot be seen and feel they will not be believed.
6 PHYSICAL VIOLENCE:
20 people a minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the US.
1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe physical, sexual abuse and stalking.
Physical Violence in Intimate Partner Violence is when an abuser hurts their partner through all means of force. What begins as "playful" pinching or pushing will escalate when the abuser is feeling out of control or losing power.
Types of physical violence include kicking, punching, burning, beating, restraining, and may even lead to strangulation. 43% of women in the US who were murdered in domestic assaults were strangled by their partner within the year before. Most victims who have experienced strangulation are 10 times more likely to suffer it again. These actions are signs of physical escalation by an abuser and can lead to death. It can be a deadly time for a victim if they threaten to leave or the abuser has been served divorce papers. This is the time victims should consider reaching out to police or domestic violence agencies before doing either of those actions. They will help them make a safety plan for themselves and their children.
Sources: National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Center for Disease Control, HealtyPlace.com, Psychologytoday.com, SafeHorizons.com, OneLove.com, FamilyLaw.com, Psychiatry.org/intimatepartnerviolence.com