Domestic violence also referred to as “domestic abuse” or “intimate violence,” can be described as a consistent pattern of behavior within any relationship aimed at gaining or retaining power and control over an intimate partner.
Abuse encompasses physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats that manipulate another person. This encompasses any actions that generate fear, intimidation, terrorization, manipulation, harm, humiliation, blame, injury, or emotional distress to someone.
Domestic abuse can affect individuals of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender. It can occur in various relationship contexts, including married couples, cohabiting partners, and those in dating relationships. Domestic violence transcends socioeconomic backgrounds and educational levels, impacting anyone, regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, faith, or social class.
Victims of domestic abuse may also include children, other family members, or anyone residing in the same household.
Domestic abuse typically manifests as a recurring pattern of abusive behavior directed towards an intimate partner within a dating or familial relationship, with the aim of the abuser asserting dominance and control over the victim. It can take the form of mental, physical, economic, or sexual abuse, with incidents often escalating in both frequency and severity. In some cases, domestic abuse can culminate in severe physical injury or even death.
Are You Being Abused?
Examine the following questions to evaluate how you’re being treated and how you’re treating your partner. Recognizing the signs of domestic abuse:
Does your partner…
Ridicule or mock you in front of your friends or family?
Undermine your accomplishments.
Make you feel incapable of making decisions?
Use intimidation or threats to secure compliance?
Claim that you are nothing without them?
Physically harm you through grabbing, pushing, pinching, shoving, or hitting?
Call you repeatedly during the day or check up on your whereabouts.
Utilize drugs or alcohol as an excuse for hurtful words or abusive actions?
Blame you for their emotions or behavior?
Pressure you into sexual acts you’re not ready for? Do you feel like you’re trapped in a relationship with no way out?
Prevent you from pursuing your interests, like spending time with friends or family?
Try to restrain you after a fight or abandon you in an unfamiliar place to “teach you a lesson”?
Consistently make excuses for your partner’s actions? Do you believe that you can change your partner by changing something about yourself?
Avoid causing conflict or angering your partner.
Always prioritize your partner’s desires over your own.
Stay in the relationship out of fear of your partner’s potential actions if you leave.
If any of these scenarios are occurring in your relationship, reach out to someone for support. Without intervention, the abuse is likely to persist. Taking that first step to seek help is a courageous act.
Always remember…
NO ONE deserves to be abused. The abuse is not your fault. You are not alone.
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Power and Control Wheel
Physical and sexual assaults, or threats of such actions, are the most visible manifestations of domestic abuse and violence, often alerting others to the problem. However, when combined with consistent use of other abusive behaviors, these physical acts form a larger system of abuse. Even if physical assaults occur sporadically, they create an atmosphere of fear and allow the abuser to exercise control over the victim’s life and circumstances.
The Power & Control wheel serves as a valuable tool for comprehending the comprehensive pattern of abusive and violent behaviors employed by an abuser to establish and sustain control over their partner or any other household member. Frequently, one or more violent incidents coincide with a variety of other forms of abuse, which are less overt but undeniably establish a pattern of intimidation and control within the relationship.
Emotional abuse involves eroding an individual’s self-esteem through relentless criticism, belittling their abilities, employing derogatory language, sabotaging their relationships with children, or isolating them from friends and family. You may also be in an emotionally abusive relationship if your partner:
Insults you, uses derogatory language, or consistently criticizes you.
Demonstrates a lack of trust and acts in a possessive or jealous manner.
Attempts to isolate you from your family and friends.
Monitors your whereabouts, phone calls, and social interactions.
Prevents you from pursuing employment.
Controls finances or withholds affection.
Requires your permission for various decisions.
Threatens to harm you, your children, family, or pets.
Subjects you to humiliation in any way.
Psychological abuse also involves instilling fear through intimidation, threatening physical harm to oneself, the partner, or children, harming pets and property, engaging in “mind games,” or isolating someone from their social, educational, and occupational spheres.
Financial or economic abuse involves making a person financially reliant by maintaining full control over financial resources, withholding access to money, or forbidding participation in educational or employment opportunities.
Physical abuse also involves causing harm or attempting to harm a partner through physical actions such as hitting, kicking, burning, grabbing, pinching, shoving, slapping, hair-pulling, biting, denying medical care, forcing alcohol or drug use, or exerting physical force. You may be in a physically abusive relationship if your partner:
Abandons you in a dangerous or unfamiliar location.
Recklessly drives to induce fear.
Uses weapons to threaten or harm you.
Compels you to leave your home.
Traps you in your home or prevents you from leaving.
Blocks you from calling the police or seeking medical assistance.
Harms your children.
Uses physical force during sexual encounters.
Sexual abuse entails forcing a partner to engage in sexual acts without their consent. You may be in a sexually abusive relationship if your partner:
Accuses you of infidelity or frequently exhibits jealousy over your external relationships.
Requires you to dress provocatively.
Engages in sexual insults or addresses you with sexual epithets.
Has forcibly or coercively engaged you in sexual activity or penetration.
Physically restrains you during sexual acts.
Demands sex when you’re unwell, tired, or after assaulting you.
Involves other individuals in sexual activities with you.
Ignores your feelings and boundaries regarding sex.
Stalking encompasses any recurring, purposeless pattern of behavior aimed at harassing, annoying, or frightening the victim. Also Common stalking activities include incessant phone calls, unsolicited letters or gifts, and surveillance at the victim’s workplace, home, and other frequented places. Stalking tends to escalate over time.
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How can you assist victims of domestic abuse?
Listen to and believe the person experiencing abuse, letting them know they are not alone.
Encourage them to seek support through a confidential hotline to connect with a professional in the field.
Express concern, offer support and provide referrals to available resources.
If you recognize that you are mistreating your partner, there may be resources in your community to assist you in ending the abuse.
What are the ten different types of abuse?
The Care and Support statutory guidance identifies ten types of abuse, which include:
Physical abuse
Domestic violence or abuse
Sexual abuse
Psychological or emotional abuse
Financial or material abuse
Modern slavery
Discriminatory abuse
Organizational or institutional abuse
Neglect or acts of omission
Self-neglect
What is physical abuse? Is a form of abuse in which one person uses physical force to cause harm, injury, or pain to another person. It can involve actions like hitting, punching, kicking, slapping, choking, or any physical act intended to hurt or control another person.
Types of domestic violence or abuse can be characterized by any of the abuse indicators mentioned in this document, whether they are psychological, physical, sexual, financial, or emotional.
What is sexual abuse?
Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse is any non-consensual sexual activity or coercion, including rape, sexual assault, unwanted sexual advances, or forcing someone to engage in sexual acts against their will.
Types of sexual abuse include:
Rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault
Inappropriate touch anywhere
Non-consensual masturbation of either or both parties
Non-consensual sexual penetration or attempted penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth
Any sexual activity for which the person lacks the capacity to consent
Inappropriate looking, sexual teasing, innuendo, or harassment
Forced use of pornography or witnessing sexual acts
Indecent exposure
What is psychological or emotional abuse? Involves using tactics to undermine an individual’s self-esteem, self-worth, and emotional well-being. This can include verbal threats, insults, manipulation, humiliation, intimidation, isolation, and other forms of emotional harm.
Types of psychological or emotional abuse encompass:
Enforced social isolation, restricting access to services, education, social opportunities, or family and friends
Removal of mobility or communication
Blocking access to religious and cultural practices
Preventing the expression of choice and opinion
Disregarding privacy
Preventing engagement in meaningful activities
Intimidation, coercion, harassment, threats, humiliation, bullying, swearing, or verbal abuse
Patronizing or infantilizing language
Threats of harm or abandonment
Cyberbullying
What is financial or material abuse? Also occurs when one person controls or exploits another person’s financial resources, limiting their access to money, employment, or financial independence. It can involve withholding money, stealing, or preventing the victim from working.
Types of financial or material abuse include:
Theft of money or possessions
Fraud or scamming
Preventing access to personal funds, benefits, or assets
Employees taking loans from the person receiving services
Applying undue pressure, duress, threats, or undue influence related to loans, wills, property, inheritance, or financial transactions
Arranging inadequate care to save money for potential inheritance
Failing to provide assistance in managing or monitoring financial matters
Failing to provide support to access benefits
Misusing personal allowances in a care home
Misusing benefits or direct payments in a family home
Unauthorized residence in a person’s home, living rent-free without agreement or under duress
False representation, using another person’s bank account.
Exploiting an individual’s money or assets.
What is modern slavery? Modern Slavery: Modern slavery also refers to various forms of exploitation where individuals are subjected to forced labor, human trafficking, or other practices that deprive them of their freedom and basic human rights. It includes practices like debt bondage, force labor, and human trafficking for various purposes, such as forced prostitution or labor.
Types of modern slavery encompass:
Human trafficking
Forced labor
Domestic servitude
Sexual exploitation, such as escort work, prostitution, and pornography
Debt bondage, being coerced into working to pay off debts that are impossible to repay.
What is discriminatory abuse? Discriminatory Abuse: Discriminatory abuse involves treating someone unfairly or abusively based on their age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics. It includes derogatory remarks, unequal treatment, and harassment based on these characteristics.
Types of Discriminatory Abuse involve:
Unequal treatment based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex, or sexual orientation, recognized as “protected characteristics” under the Equality Act 2010.
Verbal abuse, derogatory remarks, or inappropriate language use related to a protected characteristic.
Denying access to communication aids or not allowing access to interpreters, signers, or lip-readers.
Harassment or deliberate exclusion based on a protected characteristic.
Denying basic rights to healthcare, education, employment, and criminal justice concerning a protected characteristic.
Subpar service provision linked to a protected characteristic.
What is organizational or institutional abuse? where the structure, practices, or policies of the organization lead to mistreatment, neglect, or harm of individuals in their care.
Types of organizational or institutional abuse comprise:
Discouraging visits or the involvement of relatives or friends.
Running down or overcrowding the establishment.
Authoritarian management or rigid regimes.
Lack of leadership and supervision.
Insufficient staff or high turnover, resulting in substandard care.
Abusive and disrespectful attitudes towards individuals receiving services.
Inappropriate use of restraints.
Lack of respect for dignity and privacy.
Failure to manage residents displaying abusive behavior.
Neglecting to provide adequate food, drink, or assistance with eating.
Failing to offer choices or promote independence.
Misusing medication.
Neglecting to provide care for dentures, spectacles, or hearing aids.
Neglecting to consider individuals’ cultural, religious, or ethnic needs.
Failing to respond appropriately to abuse.
Interfering with personal correspondence or communication.
Self-neglect: occurs when an individual fails to take care of their own basic needs, putting their health and safety at risk. This may involve neglecting personal hygiene, refusing medical care, or not meeting essential life requirements.
What is Self-neglect?
What is neglect?
Neglect: is a form of abuse that involves failing to provide for someone’s basic needs, such as food, shelter, medical care, or emotional support. Neglect can result from a caregiver’s failure to meet these needs.
What are acts of omission? Acts of Omission: refers to a failure to act when there is a duty to do so. It can include neglect or not taking necessary actions to prevent harm or provide care to someone in need.
Types of neglect and acts of omission include:
Failing to provide or allow access to food, shelter, clothing, heating, stimulation, and activity, personal or medical care.
Providing care in a manner that the person finds disagreeable.
Neglecting to administer prescribed medication.
Refusing access to visitors.
Ignoring or isolating the person.
Preventing the person from making their own decisions.
Withholding access to glasses, hearing aids, dentures, and so on.
Neglecting to ensure privacy and dignity.
What is Self-neglect?
Types of self-neglect involve:
Inadequate self-care that threatens personal health and safety.
Neglecting personal hygiene, health, or surroundings.
Inability to avoid self-harm.
Failing to seek help or access services to address health and social care needs.
Inability or unwillingness to manage personal affairs.
Domestic Violence
What is domestic violence?
Domestic violence also referred to as “domestic abuse” or “intimate violence,” can be described as a consistent pattern of behavior within any relationship aimed at gaining or retaining power and control over an intimate partner.
Abuse encompasses physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats that manipulate another person. This encompasses any actions that generate fear, intimidation, terrorization, manipulation, harm, humiliation, blame, injury, or emotional distress to someone.
Domestic abuse can affect individuals of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender. It can occur in various relationship contexts, including married couples, cohabiting partners, and those in dating relationships. Domestic violence transcends socioeconomic backgrounds and educational levels, impacting anyone, regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, faith, or social class.
Victims of domestic abuse may also include children, other family members, or anyone residing in the same household.
Domestic abuse typically manifests as a recurring pattern of abusive behavior directed towards an intimate partner within a dating or familial relationship, with the aim of the abuser asserting dominance and control over the victim. It can take the form of mental, physical, economic, or sexual abuse, with incidents often escalating in both frequency and severity. In some cases, domestic abuse can culminate in severe physical injury or even death.
Are You Being Abused?
Examine the following questions to evaluate how you’re being treated and how you’re treating your partner. Recognizing the signs of domestic abuse:
Does your partner…
Do you feel like you’re trapped in a relationship with no way out?
Assist FAPS-DEVELOPMENT to fight against Domestic violence and other forms of violence
Do you…
Do you believe that you can change your partner by changing something about yourself?
If any of these scenarios are occurring in your relationship, reach out to someone for support. Without intervention, the abuse is likely to persist. Taking that first step to seek help is a courageous act.
Always remember…
Power and Control Wheel
Physical and sexual assaults, or threats of such actions, are the most visible manifestations of domestic abuse and violence, often alerting others to the problem. However, when combined with consistent use of other abusive behaviors, these physical acts form a larger system of abuse. Even if physical assaults occur sporadically, they create an atmosphere of fear and allow the abuser to exercise control over the victim’s life and circumstances.
The Power & Control wheel serves as a valuable tool for comprehending the comprehensive pattern of abusive and violent behaviors employed by an abuser to establish and sustain control over their partner or any other household member. Frequently, one or more violent incidents coincide with a variety of other forms of abuse, which are less overt but undeniably establish a pattern of intimidation and control within the relationship.
Emotional abuse involves eroding an individual’s self-esteem through relentless criticism, belittling their abilities, employing derogatory language, sabotaging their relationships with children, or isolating them from friends and family. You may also be in an emotionally abusive relationship if your partner:
Psychological abuse also involves instilling fear through intimidation, threatening physical harm to oneself, the partner, or children, harming pets and property, engaging in “mind games,” or isolating someone from their social, educational, and occupational spheres.
Financial or economic abuse involves making a person financially reliant by maintaining full control over financial resources, withholding access to money, or forbidding participation in educational or employment opportunities.
Physical abuse also involves causing harm or attempting to harm a partner through physical actions such as hitting, kicking, burning, grabbing, pinching, shoving, slapping, hair-pulling, biting, denying medical care, forcing alcohol or drug use, or exerting physical force. You may be in a physically abusive relationship if your partner:
Sexual abuse entails forcing a partner to engage in sexual acts without their consent. You may be in a sexually abusive relationship if your partner:
Stalking encompasses any recurring, purposeless pattern of behavior aimed at harassing, annoying, or frightening the victim. Also Common stalking activities include incessant phone calls, unsolicited letters or gifts, and surveillance at the victim’s workplace, home, and other frequented places. Stalking tends to escalate over time.
How can you assist victims of domestic abuse?
Assist FAPS-DEVELOPMENT to fight against Domestic violence and other forms of violence
For Abusive Partners – Are You An Abuser?
If you recognize that you are mistreating your partner, there may be resources in your community to assist you in ending the abuse.
What are the ten different types of abuse?
The Care and Support statutory guidance identifies ten types of abuse, which include:
What is physical abuse?
Is a form of abuse in which one person uses physical force to cause harm, injury, or pain to another person. It can involve actions like hitting, punching, kicking, slapping, choking, or any physical act intended to hurt or control another person.
Types of physical abuse include:
Types of domestic violence or abuse can be characterized by any of the abuse indicators mentioned in this document, whether they are psychological, physical, sexual, financial, or emotional.
What is sexual abuse?
Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse is any non-consensual sexual activity or coercion, including rape, sexual assault, unwanted sexual advances, or forcing someone to engage in sexual acts against their will.
Types of sexual abuse include:
What is psychological or emotional abuse?
Involves using tactics to undermine an individual’s self-esteem, self-worth, and emotional well-being. This can include verbal threats, insults, manipulation, humiliation, intimidation, isolation, and other forms of emotional harm.
Types of psychological or emotional abuse encompass:
What is financial or material abuse?
Also occurs when one person controls or exploits another person’s financial resources, limiting their access to money, employment, or financial independence. It can involve withholding money, stealing, or preventing the victim from working.
Types of financial or material abuse include:
What is modern slavery?
Modern Slavery: Modern slavery also refers to various forms of exploitation where individuals are subjected to forced labor, human trafficking, or other practices that deprive them of their freedom and basic human rights. It includes practices like debt bondage, force labor, and human trafficking for various purposes, such as forced prostitution or labor.
Types of modern slavery encompass:
What is discriminatory abuse?
Discriminatory Abuse: Discriminatory abuse involves treating someone unfairly or abusively based on their age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics. It includes derogatory remarks, unequal treatment, and harassment based on these characteristics.
Types of Discriminatory Abuse involve:
Assist FAPS-DEVELOPMENT to fight against Domestic violence and other forms of violence
What is organizational or institutional abuse?
where the structure, practices, or policies of the organization lead to mistreatment, neglect, or harm of individuals in their care.
Types of organizational or institutional abuse comprise:
Assist FAPS-DEVELOPMENT to fight against Domestic violence and other forms of violence
What is Self-neglect?
Self-neglect: occurs when an individual fails to take care of their own basic needs, putting their health and safety at risk. This may involve neglecting personal hygiene, refusing medical care, or not meeting essential life requirements.
What is Self-neglect?
What is neglect?
Neglect: is a form of abuse that involves failing to provide for someone’s basic needs, such as food, shelter, medical care, or emotional support. Neglect can result from a caregiver’s failure to meet these needs.
What are acts of omission?
Acts of Omission: refers to a failure to act when there is a duty to do so. It can include neglect or not taking necessary actions to prevent harm or provide care to someone in need.
Types of neglect and acts of omission include:
What is Self-neglect?
Types of self-neglect involve:
Assist FAPS-DEVELOPMENT to fight against Domestic violence and other forms of violence