What is domestic violence and emotional abuse? What
are the differences? Domestic violence and emotional abuse are behaviors used
by one person in a relationship to control the other person. The extent of
these relationships can vary. They may be romantic, platonic, family or
friends. In a romantic relationship, the partners do not have to be married, living
together or even completely dating for abuse to occur.
Domestic violence can be criminal, sexual,
emotional, psychological or financial.
Some examples include sexual assault,
intimidation, stalking, physical harm, name calling, prohibiting family contact
or withholding money. This type of violence can happen all of the time or only
once in a great while. Anyone can be a victim. Age, sex, culture, religion,
education, employment status or marital status typically does not matter. Women
generally are more abused but men certainly see their fair share.
Many people who are being abused do not see
themselves as victims. It is possible in some situations that the abusers do
not see themselves as abusive. This can happen because the violence is not
necessarily physical, but may be a different type as mentioned previously.
If children reside in homes where abuse occurs, they
typically are neglected or abused themselves. In most of these instances,
children know about the violence. That goes to say that even if a child is not
physically harmed, emotional problems may take dominance. This type of
situation may have potential negative lasting effects on these children for the
rest of their lives because of what happens in these situations.
Domestic violence is everybody’s business. If it is
not happening to you per se, it may be happening to someone you know or
associate with. You may not know that this type of behavior is happening, but
indeed it does happen. If we can all work together in preventing this issue, it
will be another issue left off the books.
