MFT: Psychology of Violence Types of Abuse Inflicted on Spouses

There are various forms of spousal abuse, but the legal definition of the term is, reckless or deliberate infliction of emotional or physical injury on one's spouse. Spousal abuse penalties and charges are dependent upon whether serious physical damage was inflicted on the spouse, whether the abuse events have been occurring continually, and abuse history of the offender. While domestic violence and spousal abuse are similar, the former incorporates other kinds of relationships as well, including same-sex unions or civil partnership. Spousal abuse can lead to devastating emotional damage as it typically entails spousal domination by means of violence, verbal abuse, intimidation, or threats of bodily maltreatment, causing intense terror, hopelessness, and powerlessness in the other spouse (Attorney, 2015).

Physical

An individual is said to be physically abused if he/she suffers deliberate bodily hurt at the hands of another; physical abuse is normally witnessed in domestic violence cases. It involves a wide range of injurious behavior, including burning, slapping, kicking, and biting. The victim may come from any age group and class. While a number of physical abuse victims survive the injuries inflicted upon them, in some instances, the injuries have fatal results. As per the latest CSEW (Crime Survey for England and Wales) statistics, over 720,000 males and 1.1 million females suffered from some or other form of domestic violence in 2013. Further, it is held that more individuals succumb to injuries inflicted by domestic physical maltreatment than to wars, cancer, or road accidents. Seeking professional aid is crucial to facilitate physical abuse victims' overcoming of psychological trauma, resulting from such experiences. Physical abuse tends to have a number of repercussions, including anxiety, depression, anger, poor self-esteem, sexual problems, and trust issues, in several cases (Counselling Directory, 205).

Often, the abuser intends to elicit fear in the victim through intimidation or humiliation -- mostly for asserting dominance. The offender may mete out physical injury in numerous ways, some of which include: Striking, Spanking, Spitting, Burning, Kicking, Pulling hair, Knifing, Throttling, Shoving/pushing, Biting or scratching, Forcibly carrying, Using weapons like a bat, knife, or gun, Grabbing clothes, Coerced sex, and Throwing objects like a book, shoe, phone, or plate.

Sexual

Sexual abuse occurs when an individual is forced into sexual activity. It may include unwanted touching, photographing and even rape. There appears to be a subtle distinction between two willing grownups who experiment with sexuality and one individual forced into a sexual act he/she finds alarming or debasing. For instance, one adult may enjoy pornography, while another may find it humiliating. Sexual assault, incest, sexual acts with kids aged below 16, and rape, whether by a spouse or stranger, are all to be considered as crimes, worth notifying the police. Sexual acts committed without gaining the other's agreement, owing to unconsciousness, drugs, or alcohol, are classified under abusive behavior. A number of children and women get sexually abused by a known offender, who may be a relative, close friend, or ex-partner. Males are usually more vulnerable to sexual assault by a relative, stranger, or authority figure (e.g. somebody at school). Information with regard to cases of sexual maltreatment is mostly unknown. Abuse victims normally resort to self-blame, failing to report the incident. A number of victims are coached to trust the aggressor or fear retribution if they report the incident. In some instances, childhood sexual abuse goes unaddressed until the person starts facing sexual issues after growing up (Counselling Directory, 2015). Sexual abuse include: excessive jealousy; sexually offensive name-calling; aggressive sexual acts; sexual criticism; coercing a partner to engage in a particular sexual act the partner is not willing to engage in; forceful stripping; withholding affection/sex; denying or minimizing partner's sexual preferences or feelings pertaining to sex; forced sex following physical abuse; making sex dependent on partner's behavior or acquiescence to sexual practices they are uncomfortable with, e.g. use of sex toys or porn; use of coercion for forcing partner's participation in sex; forced prostitution; forced sex when partner is tired or unwell; and clicking unwanted sexual pictures and sharing them on the internet or with others without partner's consent (Hidden Hurt., 2015).

Emotional

Emotional abuse denotes all non-physical attitudes or behaviors, which dominate, threaten, subdue, humiliate, isolate or punish another individual through the use of fear, degradation, or humiliation. It represents another form of maltreatment an individual can face in an intimate relationship. While emotional abuse leaves no physical imprint, its impact on the victim's self-image and confidence is enormous. Emotional abuse can assume a few different forms, and may not be apparent initially. Nevertheless, a victim of emotional abuse can attempt to seek support and overcome...

Unlike physical maltreatment, which may manifest itself through invisible bruises and scars, emotional abuse isn't so easy to identify. Numerous married people reside in an unseen mental prison, in states of extreme desolation and hopelessness. Emotional abuse victims are characteristically reticent, timid, reserved and unconfident. Telling signs of emotional maltreatment can include a highly restricted or isolated lifestyle with loss of contact with family and friends. Other indicators of spousal abuse include a rumpled appearance, disorientation, or extreme gain or loss of weight. The reason behind these indicators is often a dictating partner who wishes to manipulate, intimidate, and dominate by attacking the other's self-esteem and mind. Using a twisted misconception of matrimony, the abuser exploits marriage as a sort of weapon for constantly relinquishing emotional blows to the victimized partner. The aggressor plays cat and mouse with the victim, relentlessly watching him/her for signs of contentment or peace in the relationship. As soon as the victim attempts to derive some degree of emotional stability and sense of self-confidence, the aggressor instantaneously doles out a harsh response or word or demeaning remark for dousing any little glimpse of joy experienced by the victim (christianet, 2015). A few forms of emotional maltreatment are as follows:
Verbal -- slighting, yelling, or cursing one's spouse

Rejection -- pretending to not notice a partner's presence, value or conversation

Put downs -- public embarrassment, name-calling, calling a partner stupid, laying the blame on them for all problems, even trivial ones

Being afraid -- eliciting feelings of fear, making the spouse feel threatened or intimidated

Isolation -- restricting freedom, preventing a spouse from communicating with others (such as family and friends)

Money -- restricting spouse's spending, withholding money from spouse, stealing/taking money, preventing him/her from working

Bullying --deliberate and repeated hurtful remarks or actions directed at spouse

Thoughts About Restraining Orders

Protective or restraining orders refer to court orders capable of protecting an individual from sexual or physical harm, threats, harassment, or stalking. An individual who gets the protective order is known as a "protected person," while the one against whom the order is against is labeled "restrained person." The reach of restraining orders can sometimes extend to include other individuals, such as the protected individual's family members. A domestic abuse protective order is employed when the abused individual has/had an intimate relationship with the aggressor (married/registered partner, estranged, divorced, currently dating or were dating previously, have a baby together, currently cohabiting or cohabited previously), or is a close relative (child, parent, sibling, grandparent, or in-law). The success rate of temporary restraining orders in keeping the abused safe is 85%; another study, however, reports a rather disheartening success rate of 15%. Therefore, it may be safe to presume that protective orders are successful only in around half the cases (Albrecht, 2012).

When are they Effective and when are they not?

Protective orders are particularly effective for people who generally abide by rules, and, in particular, for people who are afraid of the penalties associated with disobeying the order. Unfortunately, a majority of suspected domestic abusers already establish that they aren't sticklers for following rules, and don't necessarily fear law enforcers, detainment, prison, jail, or even (in some cases) death as a consequence of their actions. Restraining orders are rendered ineffective when abused individuals fail to consistently report all incidents of breach of the order (as they are instructed to do), thus conveying mixed messages to the police and the aggressor. Restraining order violation include: boundary-probing e-mails, phone calls, texts, office or home drive-bys, and direct encounters with the aggressor (Albrecht, 2012). The main aim of restraining orders is reducing harm to vulnerable individuals. While their effectiveness is controversial, existing research backs the inference that protective orders are linked to decreased risk of abuse directed at victims (Benitez, McNiel, & Binder, 2010).

What Similar and Different Patterns of Violence might be seen in Gay or Lesbian Relationships and Heterosexual Relationships?

Lenore Walker, a psychologist, discovered, in the year 1979, that a common cycle or pattern governs most violent relationships. This complete cycle can transpire within a day or even several weeks or months. The pattern differs for different relationships. Also, all relationships don't follow the pattern; several abused spouses/partners report an incessant situation of siege with hardly any respite. There are three parts to the cycle:

Tension Building Phase -- Tension accumulates in the perpetrator over normal…