What is domestic violence? Domestic violence should be understood as mild to severe forms of abuse with recurring events from your significant other or either family.
Have you ever been in a toxic or volatile domestic relationship? I have recently interviewed a woman that has been tortured for years in her marriage. She tells me in the interview that she is recanting that one time she woke up in the middle of the living room floor. As she opens the one eye that isn’t swollen shut she frantically searches for her young child and he is nowhere to be found. She calls the police who take her report and then question her about her bruises and black eye. She tells them what happened; they take her report and begin the search for her son. When they find her son and husband they return them both home because the son is “safe” in their eyes and she has fearfully corroborated her father’s alibi that they haven’t been home all day. The officers leave, satisfied that they have done their jobs, only to discover the next day that the man they returned home safe has now beaten his wife and child unconscious. This situation may not be how every domestic violence situation plays out but it is all too often the case. Domestic violence is a serious problem everywhere that affects the victims and a child involved, but does not seem to have consistent enough consequences for the offender, or strong enough protection for the victims. Many couples have arguments but sadly domestic violence is hard to recover from both physically and emotionally.
The number of domestic violence incidents is at a staggering amount. According to the Domestic Violence Resource Center), one in four women has experienced domestic violence in her lifetime. That is one quarter of the female population. This means that the majority of us probably know someone who has been a victim, whether they have admitted it or not. This could be your mother, sister, aunt or daughter. Whether you can see the physical effects or not there are other signs that may suggest they are in a violent or abusive situation. Victims involved in this kind of abuse typically withdraw themselves from others. They don’t