The Invisible Mark Left On Victims Of Abuse

The media often refer to the number of reports that have taken place over a period of time or the number of victims of abuse who die at the hands of their peers. However, the situation involves much more for the sufferer and, on the other hand, not all cases are included in the statistical figures (false positives and false negatives).

They don’t usually talk about beatings or bruises, even less about unseen wounds. Because abuse doesn’t just hurt the body. When someone is in a relationship of abuse, it is normal that there is a great psychological discomfort that is there and needs to be remedied, starting with giving voice to people who have been silenced so many times.

Posttraumatic stress disorder in victims of maltreatment

When we talk about post-traumatic stress, we usually associate it with natural disasters, robberies, murders, wars or attacks. But not to mistreatment, when it can also be explained in this context. In fact, this disorder is characterized by re-experiencing the event, by the lack of tranquility and the fruitless attempt to forget, symptoms that are often observed in victims of gender violence.

Posttraumatic stress disorder in these people has very specific characteristics. On the one hand, it is normal to go back to suffering traumatic events at any time, and, on top of that, with your partner. This makes her to be alert and in constant vigilance, since whoever causes the damage is precisely the one who should support and protect.

On the other hand, trauma gradually destroys the emotional state of people who suffer, as they usually take years to ask for help. In fact, it is common to continue with the aggressor to avoid further aggression, so the victim often understands that there is no possible solution to the situation (learned helplessness, abandonment).

The battered woman syndrome

The fact of believing that there is no solution for what happens to them, that is, getting into a situation of learned helplessness, can also lead to the abused woman syndrome. The victim adapts to the situation he is living in and minimizes the pain. But not only that, it also distorts reality, denying or diminishing the seriousness of the problem it suffers.

What’s more, it can change the way you perceive others and yourself. In this sense, she can deceive herself and idealize the aggressor, convincing herself that he will stop attacking her because he is in love with her. In fact, she may even forgive him and blame herself for the situation she’s in, even thinking that it’s the treatment she deserves.

Mistreatment and depression

Victims of abuse tend to have low self-esteem, but they also tend to be isolated, which means that they do not get social support or positive emotional reinforcement. All of this weakens the person even more, which can lead to depression.

This disorder makes the victim have difficulties in making decisions and concentrating, in addition to producing a deterioration in professional performance and an increase in insecurity. Women enter a vicious circle in which it is increasingly difficult to get out of the situation of abuse.

Depression has another consequence: suicide. In several studies it was observed that 29% of women admitted to hospital emergency rooms for attempted suicide were victims of abuse. In fact, the probability of suicide among battered women is five times greater than in the rest of the population.

Anxiety associated with maltreatment

As you would imagine, anxiety disorders also have a higher incidence among abused people compared to other women. In addition to the aforementioned post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder have also been found to be greater.

The latter appears as an attempt to control the anxiety that appears in face of such an unpredictable situation. Thus, obsessive thoughts about the aggressor appear, as well as compulsive behaviors to try to reduce the anxiety that is generated with the sentences that appear in his mind.

The aggressor exerts his power and strength over his victims in a way that ends up destroying the other, and he acts both outside and inside. On a psychological level, abuse leaves a mark on the abused person that has bad consequences, so it is important to pay attention and offer a possible way out of the situation in which he finds himself.

Images courtesy of Chris Lawton, Tertia Van Rensburg and Rene Bohmer.