| Domestic Violence 2 Essay, Research Paper
The affects of domestic violence do not stop when the cuts and bruises heal. The psychological affects of domestic violence can be seen long after the violence has stopped. Many of the criminals that are locked up institutions blame their violent acts on the violence that they were victims of when they were young. It is devastating for a child to witness its mother, or father, getting beat. Violence in the home tends to desensitize family members to all other types of violence, thus making it easier to witness, or even commit acts of violence. No matter what the causes of domestic violence are, there is one idea that all people tend to agree upon; it must be stopped as soon as possible.
One of the most devastating psychological affects of domestic violence on children is the fact that battering leads to emotional abandonment. If a child is abused, or witnesses abuse, they seem to lose trust in the person who is committing the abuse. Quite often the child feels as if they no one to turn to in times of personal distress, thus making them keep all of their emotions and problems inside.
Another major emotional affect of domestic violence is that the people that live in a house of violence always live in fear. The fear that the victims feel often seems to take over their lives, thus not allowing them to concentrate on much else. The threats that go hand and hand with domestic violence often do not get carried out, however it is the idea of them getting that leads to the fear.
Yet another psychological affect of domestic violence is the fact that violence creates constant anxiety in the home. Domestic violence has been linked to panic attacks, as well as several cases of anxiety attacks. The stress that the victim feels is very profound, they tend to blame themselves rather that the abuser, thus leading them to constantly think of ways that they can change themselves in order to stop the violence. Anxiety can also lead the abuser to commit the acts of violence, some abusers use violence as a way to alleviate their own anxieties. Another type of stress that is caused by domestic violence is flashbacks. Throughout the whole lives of many domestic violence victims, flashbacks of the times that they, or a loved one, were abused have caused a disruption in their everyday lives
The acts of domestic violence lead to the creation of low self-esteem as well. Low self-esteem is created when the abuser is actually physically abusing the victim. The idea of another person having that amount of power over the victim leads the victim to feel as if they have no place to turn, thus leading them to feel worthless.
Family domestic violence tends to lead to behavioral problems in the children of the house. The number of cases of attention deficit disorder and several other behavioral problems seems to be higher in children that came from homes where there were consistent cases of domestic violence.
Children that come from homes that experience consistent domestic violence seem to take on adult roles very prematurely. The taking on of adult roles can lead to such problem as teen pregnancy and teen violence against each other. The acts of domestic violence take away the childhood of the young victims.
Children who become victims of domestic violence often seem to focus their attention to negative activities. The number of children that join gangs has been directly related to some form of domestic violence. Domestic violence often leads children to look for another form of family, the gang. The gang provides most of the companionship that the family should have provided for the child.
The victims of domestic abuse learn to be the abuser themselves. People who were abused in their childhood are three times more likely to abuse their children. They seem to justify the abuse of their children by saying that they were hit and they came out all right or that getting hit worked for them. Justifying the abuse seems to be an escape from the guilt felt for abusing the child. Men who have witnessed their parents domestic violence are thee times more likely to abuse their own wives than children of non violent parents, with the sons of the most violent parents being one thousand times more likely to become wife beaters. The programming to be violent has been an idea that has been around since the dawn of time. For example the idea of Danzig was used by the Germans during World War two in order to program their soldiers to be more violent. The same basic idea is happening when the victim of abuse is becoming accustom to the violence.
Another problem associated with domestic violence is the feeling of depression. Studies of the people treated for the problem of depression have shown that a high number of them were abused as children. Depression can also be linked to other forms of violence, such as verbal assault or sexual abuse. In every circumstance of domestic violence the victim feels depressed because they feel as if they are at fault for the violence that has happened. The feeling of guilt often leads to suicide, the killing of ones self, caused by depression.
Victims of domestic violence often learn extreme behaviors. Extreme behaviors are those that lead to other forms of crime, such as aggravated assault and rape. The extreme behaviors are linked to the idea that the victim, now the criminal, uses the same justification for his or her actions as the person who was abusing them.
The victims of domestic violence also learn no boundaries. They take all of their actions outside the realms of normal. For example, they might get into fight while playing a game of basketball, or they might use excessive obscenities at a ball game. The idea of having no boundaries is linked to the fact that the excessive abuse that they might have experienced as a child might lead them to believe that there are no boundaries in life.
In a national survey of over six thousand American families, fifty percent of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently abused their children. The children in these cases are victims of double abuse. Not only do they experience the abuse of their mother, they are victims of physical abuse themselves. These children are the most at risk kids to abuse their peers and other people of their own age group.
Withdrawal is also a very common affect of domestic violence. Children who are abused tend to shelter themselves away from all other people. They keep their emotions inside and every once in a while they snap and let all of their emotions out, often in a violent manner. This type of case is a very common in the criminal plea of temporary insanity.
A comparison between delinquent and nondelinquent youth found that a history of family violence or abuse is the most significant difference between the two groups. Delinquent youth seem to have a history of domestic violence which leads them to commit the crimes that they commit.
Over three million children are at risk to be victims of domestic violence each year. With this number of children being victims of domestic violence every year, society is at risk of becoming heartless, emotionless, and very violent towards each other. Society is leaning toward having to spend billions of dollars having to rehabilitate those who have programmed to commit acts of violence on their loved ones.
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