CONSEQUENCES OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

CONSEQUENCES OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

Domestic abuse impacts:

• the physical and mental health condition of the victims
• professional life
• economic status
• social relationships.

In respect of the physical health, the victim may suffer injuries which require medical care, be it simple or, in other cases, complex medical care, for a long time, depending on the severity of the consequences on the victim’s bodily integrity.

As regards the mental health, the victims may show temporary or permanent emotional disorders (acute or chronic depression, phobias, post-traumatic stress, panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia), personality disorders and, sometimes, behaviour disorders, food disorders and even suicide attempts.

Family violence is the main cause of pre-delinquent behaviours of minor children (running away from home, leaving school, vagabondage), which is a first step towards delinquency in the form of theft, robbery, drug consumption and trafficking etc. Children who were sexually abused within their families become - most of them - abusers, continuing the cycle of violence.

With respect to the professional and economic status, the aggressor may prohibit the victims to take a job or, if they already have a job, they find it difficult to maintain it because of repeated medical leaves after the aggressions suffered. Insufficient income or absence of income generates extremely powerful financial dependency on the aggressor.

From a social standpoint, the victims are radically or gradually isolated from their family of origin, group of friends, colleagues, social support services. The aggressor prohibits the victim to keep in touch with the world outside the home, threatens her, has crises of jealousy and beats the victim if such does not submit to the interdictions invented by the aggressor. Social isolation of the victim is one of the most serious drivers of failure in the woman’s attempt to exit such dependency.