Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence

This form is responsible for a vast majority of home-related violence. In extreme cases, the victims are brought to emergency centers with life-threatening injuries. The extent of the physical abuse from domestic violence is such that many find it hard to believe it was done by a member of the household.

Physical abuse ranges from receiving “disciplinary” hits to full blown beatings, the severity of which often lands the victim in the emergency room. Reports often note that the abuser, or sometimes the victim, is someone with either a drug or alcohol dependency issue. This led to many surmising that alcohol and domestic abuse go hand-in-hand, which is not too far off from the truth.

Of the many forms of domestic violence known, sexual abuse is among those that are the longest, and most difficult to process. The trauma that this brings to an individual, both physically and mentally, is such that it takes years to rehabilitate. In some cases, the trauma is such that therapy alone could not repair the damage done.

Sexual abuse is when a member of the household forces himself or herself on an unwilling individual for sexual purposes. The victims are not limited to women or even children, but also the elderly as well. The heinous nature of this type of abuse is such that state laws have included touching a person inappropriately and intimidation to force the victim into sexually suggestive instances.

People might not really think that holding a person to emotional ransom is not necessarily domestic violence, as it does not always involve physical violence towards someone else. Emotional abuse becomes a form of domestic violence when the victim is coerced into doing something they normally would not by way of emotional manipulation.

This involves playing upon the victim’s compassion or sense of pity towards the victim, and it could be for any number of reasons, such as asking them for money, coercing them into committing a crime on behalf of the abuser, or even preventing the victim from leaving the abuser.

Abuse is mostly centered upon someone exerting control over a victim, and in the case of a person exercising control over another person’s access to resources, it is called economic abuse. This could be because the abuser wants to impress upon the victim just how powerless they are, or how dependent they are on the abuser to gain access to resources or funds.

In other instances, it could be someone who is not overtly exercising control over another person, but is, instead, manipulating the victim into allowing the abuser to exploit money that belongs to the victim.

Much like emotional abuse, there are other forms of domestic violence that do not leave a physical mark, but still contribute to mental trauma after some time. As some abusers know the penalty for physical abuse, they instead resort to intimidation tactics, fostering fear and anxiety in their victims so that they have their way.

While others might say inappropriate language is a cultural thing, common decency will dictate that there is never a good cause to be insulting, hurtful, or demeaning in how one talks to others, let alone family members.

Some parents take disciplinary action to an entirely inappropriate level, such as when they lock up their children at home as a form of “punishment.” Depending upon the age of the children and the state where it happened, this action could be a breach of the Child Endangerment Laws, or at the very least, seen as gross negligence on the part of the parent.

This action is also not limited to children either. There are instances wherein someone would imprison their own spouse at home, on suspicion of infidelity or some other alleged offense.

Although some abusers are careful not to leave marks where they could be used against them, there are also those who simply don’t care about it. This is when bruises, wounds, and other injuries become evident. Most of the time, the victim will claim they were simply clumsy and had an accident, as the fear of their abusers takes hold of them.

Victims of domestic abuse will typically look like they were beaten up, complete with bruises and welts, mostly on the face and head. There are also many instances where the victim has bruising around the neck, as they were most likely choked into submission.

Domestic violence is quite likely to happen repeatedly, and as such, will definitely leave a person damaged physically, emotionally, and mentally. Chronic abuse is held by psychologists to be primarily responsible for clinical depression, chronic anxiety, deep-seated phobias, and even anger management issues.

Even those who have not been exposed to domestic violence since childhood are certain to manifest some personality changes once the abuse begins. As a person could only cope with so much mental and physical torture, their general behavior is sure to change in some way.

It is often believed that violence begets more violence, and this is particularly true with domestic violence. It is not likely that the victim of abuse would strike back at their abuser. At some point, however, they are certain to lash out with all of the pent up anger, frustration, and hurt that they have been keeping to themselves.

This is when specific and pronounced behavioral changes may manifest. People who are known to be sweet, kind, and caring could become uncharacteristically cold, cruel, and uncaring. They could also be highly combative or argumentative at the slightest provocation.

https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/treatment-recovery