Domestic Abuse and its types

Domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, or domestic violence can be described as the behavior of controlling the partner and maintaining the dominance in a relationship. Abuse can be sexual, physical, economic, psychological, emotional, or threats that may affect another person. This also includes the behaviors that terrorize, frighten, humiliate, wound, injured, harm, blame, or intimidate someone. Domestic violence can happen to anyone regardless of age, religion, background, gender, or nature of relationships.

Victims of domestic violence also include children, family members, or any other relative. It can be sexual, physical, and mental that they can affect someone’s life.

How will you know that you are being abused?

The answer to the above question is to look for the following questions and see how someone (can be your partner, parent, teacher, friend) treats you and how you treat others.

Signs of Domestic Violence

Does someone…

• Put you down or make fun of your things in front of your friends and family?
• Tell you that you cannot do anything without them?
• Treat you inaccurately and hit, push, manhandle or pinch you?
• Doubt on you, call you to make sure you are there you said you will be?
• Drink alcohol to hurt you?
• Pressurize you sexually, mentally, physically, and to do things you are not prepared for?
• Threaten you that you can’t run out from the relationship?
• Make you feel guilty for whatever is happening with that person?
• Deny to give you your legal rights, hindering you from doing things you like or want?
• Try to suffocate you, hold you, or threaten you just to teach a lesson?

Do you

• Feel scared of doing things or telling your partner/parent/friend about something and feel how would they react?
• Make justifications and explanations about the behaviors of your partner?
• Keep changing yourself to make your partner happy?
• Keep avoiding things that would promote harsh reactions from your partner?
• Keep living with your partner for the reason that what would happen if you quit?

Domestic violence can be of many types as anyone can be a victim. People around the world face domestic abuse, but mostly women and children form the majority of victims. If you are a victim of domestic violences, then you should know that you can ask for help: such as legal help, police help, or institutional support. The violent incidents often go unreported due to the lack of awareness about it. Sometimes, victims don’t even know that they are being facing domestic abuse because it is being sugar-coated or disguised as love.

Types of domestic abuse

Emotional Abuse

In an unhealthy relationship, it appears to happen quite normally, which is why it is not taken seriously by most of the victims. Insult, criticism, and humiliation are involved in the destruction of the self-worth of the victim. Typically, emotional abuse comes with a combination of other types of abuses (physical, sexual, financial, or psychological) which results in domestic violence.

Physical Abuse

The most detectable and recognizable form, that includes injuries, use of strength against the victim, slapping, choking, stabbing, kicking, etc. Here, you may not feel the need to complain about a slap if the abuser us under influence of a drug. But a single slap is also a kind of physical abuse.

Financial Abuse

This is perhaps the less obvious and commonly occurring domestic violence. Financial abuse can be described if a person is preventing the other person to spend on something like education or restricting the other person becoming financially independent by doing a job. Financial violence commonly happens where people have joint accounts with one person holding all the power to control it.

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse is another common type of domestic violence. It not only includes rape and sexual assaults, but harassment, unwelcoming touches, and other demanding behaviors as well. Many victims don’t even realize how badly they are being abused sexually and how largely this type is interpreted.

Psychological Abuse

Psychological abuse is a comprehensive term used for threatening and intimidating the other person. It also involves behaviors, which instill fear among the victims. This type of abuse must remain persistent to be claimed for. One-time occurrence may not be called an abusive action.

Such as:

• Keeping away the victim from meeting and talking to people
• Keeping social pressure to not step out of the house
• Threatening against doing something against the will of the abuser
• Emotional blackmailing

If any of the above things are happening with you or your partner, then you should seek help or talk to someone who might help. Without asking, nobody will come to your help and the situations may get worse if the issues remain unaddressed. Making a first move will be a courageous task, but it could be exactly what you need.