Abuse

FAQs

Q: How is abuse defined?

A: There are many ways to define abuse including: use to bad effect or for a bad purpose; treat with cruelty or violence, assault sexually; address in an insulting and offensive way.[1]

Q: How pervasive is physical and emotional abuse?

A: “The American family and the American home are perhaps as or more violent than any other single American institution or setting (with the exception of the military, and only then in time of war).”[2]

Q: How many women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime?

A: One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.[3]

Q: How many women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year?

A: An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year [2003].[4]

Q: What is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next?

A: Witnessing violence between one’s parents or caretakers is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next.[5]

Q: How well it is domestic violence reported?

A: Domestic violence is one of the most chronically under reported crimes.[6]

Q: What are some of the primary components of emotional abuse?

A: It often involves: [7]

Humiliation, degradation, discounting, negating. judging, criticizing
Domination, control, and shame
Accusing and blaming, trivial and unreasonable demands or expectations, denies own shortcomings
Emotional distancing and the “silent treatment,” isolation, emotional abandonment or neglect
Codependence and enmeshment

[1] Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, eds., Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

[2]2 United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Aging. Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care, Elder Abuse: A Decade of Shame and Inaction, (Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 1990), p29.

[3] Tjaden, Patricia & Thoennes, Nancy, “Extent, Nature and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey,” National Institute of Justice and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (2000).

[4] Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centers for Injury Prevention and Control. Atlanta, GA. (2003). (Accessed January 22, 2015).

[5] No Author, Choices and a Voice. http://bit.ly/1z5NKMl. (Accessed January 22, 2015).

[6] U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Criminal Victimization,” 2003. (Accessed January 22, 2015).

[7] Maria Bogdano, “Signs of Emotional Abuse,” Psych Central. 2013. http://bit.ly/1AdO8NV (Accessed January 22, 2015).

Scriptures

Luke 6:28 Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.

Romans 12:19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

Colossians 3:8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.