Open Access
Subscription or Fee Access
Women Beaten & Battered- Recent Empirical Research Findings
Abstract
Battered woman syndrome, which is also sometimes called battered wife syndrome, is measured a subcategory of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With battered woman syndrome, a woman may progress a cultured helplessness that causes her to trust she deserves the abuse and that she can't get away from it. Battered woman syndrome (BWS) is a mental complaint that grows in victims of internal violence as a outcome of serious, enduring abuse. BWS is dangerous primarily because it can lead to what some scholars say is "learned helplessness" – or psychological paralysis – where the victim becomes so depressed, defeated, and passive that she believes she is incapable of leaving the abusive situation. Though it may seem like an irrational fear, it feels absolutely real to the victim. Feeling fearful and weak, and sometimes even still holding onto the hope that her abuser will stop hurting her, the victim remains with her abuser, continuing the cycle of domestic violence and strengthening her existing BWS.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
McMahon, M. Battered women and bad science: the limited validity and utility of battered woman syndrome. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. 1999; 6(1): 23–49p.
Walker, Lenore E. The Battered Woman. New York: Harper and Row; 1979.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fourth Edition. Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000.
Browne A. Violence against women by male partners: Prevalence, outcomes, and policy implications. Am Psychol. 1993; 48: 1077–1087p.
Alexander C McFarlane. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a systemic illness, not a mental disorder: is Cartesian dualism dead? Med J Aust. 2017; 206 (6): 248–249p.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37628/ijwhn.v1i2.705
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.