BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME

Battered Woman Syndrome

By: Jessica Oliva Nieto

Why I chose this topic?

Definitions

• Personal interest in the topic

• To develop an understanding of why a woman does not leave an abusive partner who frequently assaults her and that such understanding may lead to better intervention efforts.

• Explore the impact of domestic violence on battered women

• The increase in literature on violence against women has generated awareness in understanding the psychological dynamics of battered women.

Domestic violence: an umbrella term that encompasses threatened, attempted or actual physical, emotional, psychological or sexual abuse by a current partner or former intimate partner (Bent-Goodley, 2011).

Battered woman syndrome: a group of symptoms that are often caused by severe domestic violence, used to explain why a woman does not escape her abuser or seek assistance and used by the legal system to explain why a battered woman might injure or kill her abuser (Costanzo, Krauss, Schuller, & McLachlan, 2014).

Theme 1: Theoretical Perspectives

Shedding Light on the Social Issue

The Three-Stage Cycle of Abuse (Walker, 1979)

Phase 1: Tension building

• Increased tension, anger, arguing, the woman tries to appease the abuser

Phase 2: Acute battering

• Multiple incidents of violence occur (hitting, choking, verbal threats)

Phase 3: Contrition (calm stage)

• Batterer may be overcome with remorse, expresses his regret for hurting her, provides excuses for the violence (he was drunk, he is sorry and promise it will never happen again)

• The third phase which consists of kind, loving behaviour displayed by the batterer provides the reinforcement for the cycle.

• There is support for the cycle of abuse in a majority of the battering incidents

• in 65% of all cases there was evidence of tension building prior to the battering (Walker, 2000).

• Over the course of a battering relationship, tension building before battering becomes more common

• This cycle works to keep partners in abusive relationships by controlling them

• When women attribute their beatings to themselves, guilt and self-blame occur (Frieze, 1976).

• The battered woman learns to anticipate her partner's violent behaviour by carefully attending to his verbal and nonverbal cues for signs impending violence constant hypervigilance

• Psychological Symptoms associated with battered woman syndrome:
• high levels of anxiety
• avoidance behaviour and emotional numbing
• self-silencing
• constant sense of fear

• Data from studies have found that battered women are at high risk for depression (Holtzworth-Munroe, Smutzler & Sandin, 1997).

• 47% of battered women who had attended battered women's groups or sought shelter met the criteria for clinical depression.

• Recently, the Salvation Army launched a domestic violence campaign to raise awareness to stop abuse against women

• Campaigns like this one have brought attention to the issue

• The media is perhaps the most dominant and most frequently used resource for understanding social issues (Gamson 1992; Kellner 1995).

Thesis

Theme 3: Socialization Patterns

Given the prevalence of domestic violence in our society and the impact it has on battered women, in this paper i concentrate on exploring the underlying factors that impede battered women from leaving an abusive relationship.

• Society has implemented from time the division between genders and these expectations have a direct impact on what society faces today

• Internalized socialization beliefs (acceptance of partner abuse) that affect battered women's decisions not to leave.

• Traditional socialization has taught women that it is their role to make their marital relationship successful. Many battered women go to great lengths to cover up the violence in order to present a successful picture to the world, and thus think of themselves as accomplices to their own assault (Walker, 1977).

• Warren & Lanning (1992) study compared battered and non-battered women on their sex role types; battered women were more feminine in sex role type than the non-battered women.

• battered women lack independence, assertion, and dominance

Statistics

• Roughly 3000 women seek shelter everyday in Canada
• 71% of women who sought shelter in 2010 did so to escape the abuse

• In 2011, there were approximately 97,500 victims of intimate partner violence. The vast majority of these victims (80%) were women, a finding consistent over time

• Young Canadians were most often the victim of intimate partner violence. Women and men in their late 20s and early 30s had the highest rates of intimate partner violent, followed closely by those aged 15 to 24 years.

• Rates generally declined with increasing age and were higher for women in every age group

Statistics Canada

Theme 2: Psychological Effects of Battering

Learned Helplessness

• Walker adapted Martin Seligman's learned helplessness theory to explain why battered women stay in abusive relationships

• Overtime a woman who endures long-term abuse becomes resigned to her fate and fails to resist or leave her abuser (Walker, 2000).

• Battered women learn that resistance is pointless and use survival techniques as opposed to escape skills.

• When people doubt that they can perform a behaviour, they are less likely to attempt it and are less likely to persist in the face of obstacles (Bandura, 1991).

• Bascelli (1986) conducted an analysis of wife abuse and found that the repeated batterings, extinguish the woman's motivation to respond voluntarily and she becomes the passive victim of her abuser

• The theory of learned helplessness is applied to help explain the woman’s sense of “psychological paralysis.”

• Given the repetitive, yet unpredictable nature of the violence, the battered woman is eventually reduced to a state of “perpetual” fear, perceiving that there is little she can do to alter the situation.

• Walker (1979) explains a battered woman passivity as a product of learned helplessness

• Battered women recollections of the psychological abuse are often more vivid and longer lasting than those of the physical abuse (Swanson, 1984).

• Aguilar & Nightingale (1994) conducted a study examining the impact of battering on the self-esteem of abused women

• Battered women experience lower self-esteem than non- battered women

• Low-self-esteem may contribute to the difficulty many women have in leaving battering relationships

• The self-image of the battered woman may drop to the point where she believes she is responsible for and deserving of abuse (Goodman, 1977).

• Finally, several psychological processes (e.g., fear) and traits of victims complicate battered women's efforts to leave

Discussion Questions

Intervention

• Socialization patterns contribute to attitudes about sex-role behaviour and is the most significant cause for the onset of battering and for the continuation of such behaviour (Moore & Pepitone-Rockwell, 1979).

• Battered women internalize gender-role attitudes and this is reflected in how they cope with living in an abusive relationship by means of passive adaptation.

• Battered women were also found to be very tolerant of others' control (Warren & Lanning, 1992).

• Toleration of abusive behaviours enables abuse to continue

• Power imbalance in intimate relationships reflects the power imbalance in our society (Goldfarb, 2005; Pickup, 2001).

• Batterers have a learned response of violence and very traditional concepts of acceptable masculine and feminine behaviour.

1. Why do you think women stay in abusive relationships?

2. How do you think society can better respond to women who are subjected to repeated abuse and violence?

3. There exists a stigma about the perception of battered woman, do you think this might be a reason as to why women do not report the repeated abuse?

3. The results from a survey conducted by Interval House indicate that nearly a quarter of Ontarian's still blame victims of domestic abuse and only 58% would intervene if abuse was disclosed. What are your opinions about these astonishing results?

Video: Leslie Steiner a survivor of domestic violence

In 2011, Statistics Canada report of Family Violence found that rates of domestic violence were higher among certain segments of the population (ages 15-35)

Battering Prevention-Education Workshop:

The workshop would be based on education to raise awareness of the plight of battered women and prevent the onset of domestic violence (prevention focus).

• how to recognize an abusive relationship

3 day workshop, 2 hours

School-based workshop that discusses the cycle of violence by teaching young adults about intimate partner violence, gender stereotypes, and how to create safe, healthy relationships.

• Preventative skills are taught through a combination of seminar work, discussion, guest speaker (battered woman survivor)

The workshop is led by trained professional advisors (social workers, counselors, women's support worker, professors)

Goal of the workshop: tear apart the stigma of "gendering" domestic violence as solely a women problem

Battering Prevention-Education Workshop will aim at creating more options for intervening in domestic violence at the individual, community and societal levels.

Conclusion

Questions

• Battered women come from all sociodemographic groups and the fact that brings them together is their victimization by an abusive partner.

• Examine the underlying factors that prevent battered women from leaving and instead choose to stay and endure the hardships of being in an abusive relationship

• Battering is a complex interpersonal problem relating to the dynamics of individuals as well as the dynamics of our society.

• In view of the literature the theoretical perspectives, psychological effects and the gender socialization roles imposed by society affect:
• How battered women interprets the relationship she is in
• How battered women behaves in these situations