Taking a Look at Abuse in a Relationship

Since women often appeared trapped by violence, researchers surveyed women, who were in an abusive relationship at one time, to figure out why they remained with their partners. They found that the women currently involved in an abusive relationship viewed their partner positively, while women who had left the relationship tended to see the negative effects. Although they were abused, the women still in the relationship also received affection from the man. Thus, these women appear to use coping strategies to mask the abuse inflicted and convince themselves to remain in the harmful situation.

Stereotypes and myths exist that accuse abused women of perpetuating their own victimization. Previous studies commonly mistake the victim’s posttraumatic stress disorder as a personality disorder. A new study was created in order to examine personality disorders of women in multiple abusive relationships. When PTSD symptoms were present, women from multiple abusive relationships were found to have more personality disorders than women from a single abusive relationship. This increase in disorders may be a result, however, of protective responses by the victim to the abuse.

Relationship abuse is typically caused by the abuser attempting to have control over their partner in regards to single arguments or in a more broad and overall way. They not only try to assert this control, but also hope to ensure that their partner will not have the chance to leave them. This dominance over their partner results in the victim having a lower self-esteem and depression. With the help of outside resources, victims of abuse come closer to leaving the relationship for good.

This qualitative study explores women’s vulnerabilities and their effect on the...

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... to feel a loss of control when they experience threats to their relationship. This powerlessness causes their violent outbursts toward their partners in order to remove the threat. Victims of dating violence also lack control and realize their helplessness when they cannot calm a situation. This clear defenselessness causes victims to remain their violent partners

Intimacy and violence, although contrasting concepts concerning love and hate, intertwine within dating violence. Amongst their signs of affection, an abuser expresses anger toward their partner whenever a relationship becomes possibly threatened. This intense emotion, along with violent behaviors, may end up being misconstrued as care by the victim. In most cases, couples decide to maintain their relationship despite the clear danger from the violent implications, believing the anger to come from love.