Domestic Violence and What Can Be Done

Physical and emotional abuse has been going on as long as there have been relationships between humans, whether those relationships are between romantic partners, parents and children, or any other family members or friends or acquaintances. Only recently in history, has the law allowed for the law and medical professionals to step in to help those suffering from domestic abuse, otherwise known as intimate partner abuse (Dryden-Edwards, 2007). This paper will examine domestic abuse, first defining it and discussing its prevalence, then examining different aspects of it, why people remain in abusive relationships, and what can be done to help people who are experiencing domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse is when there is a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another through fear, attack and intimidation. Basically, when one person sees that they have power over another and decides to abuse that power over another person physically, psychologically, or emotionally, that is abuse. Dryden-Edwards defines domestic abuse, or intimate partner abuse, as any maltreatment that may happen between romantic partners, be they heterosexual, homosexual, teenagers, adults, or the elderly. Domestic abuse affects people in all social, racial, economic, and ethnic groups, whether gay, straight, living together, dating, married or divorced, and young or old. However, "risk factors for men or women becoming victims or abusers inclu

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e, with no physical abuse. Yet, they were more apt to report poor physical and mental health, symptoms including but not limited to: arthritis, chronic pain, migraines and other frequent headaches, stammering, sexually transmitted infections, chronic pelvic pain, stomach ulcers, spastic colon, and frequent indigestion, diarrhea, or constipation. In some cases, these were debilitating enough to prevent work (Coker et al., 2000). This led the researchers to state that "psychological IPV [intimate partner violence] was as strongly associated with the majority of adverse health outcomes as was physical IPV" (Coker et al., 2000, p. 451). This leads to the next part of the discussion: emotional and child abuse. Emotional Abuse and Child Abuse As noted by Coker et al. (2000), abuse does not need to be purely physical to be just as hurtful and debilitating to those experiencing it or even those witnessing it. Part of the problem with the abuse is that those witnessing the abuse may become just as affected by what they see as those who experienced abuse. This is the case many times when children grow up witnessing abuse between their parents. Even if neither one of the parents turns that abuse on the child, they are still being emot

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