Metodología

Research shows that the psychological effects of domestic abuse vary in nature and severity and can include stress, irritability, anxiety, panic attacks and depression (Walker, 1985; Jaffe et al, 1986; Golding, 1999; Dienemann et al, 2000, Humphreys & Thiara, 2003, Hearns, 2009). Stark & Flitcraft (1996) found that abused women were five times more likely to commit suicide than non-abused women. Another study identified that female survivors of domestic

abuse develop symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at rates of 74 - 92% compared with rates of only 6 - 13% in non-abused women. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is also associated with impaired immune function, obesity, Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, increased risk of diabetes, depression and suicide (Scott-Tilley et al, 2008). Women’s low socioeconomic status is an increased risk factor in developing PTSD, making them more susceptible to re-victimisation (Vogel & Marshall, 2001). Rape and other forms of sexual violence are particularly associated with the development of PTSD (Bisson & Shepherd, 1995).

The literature review indicates that emotional abuse is perhaps the most damaging form of domestic abuse and causes severe and long-lasting effects on survivors (Williamson, 2010), effects that have been compared with the torture of hostages (Graham et al, 1988). Researching the emotional impact of domestic abuse enables a better understanding of why women are unable to leave abusive relationships. A qualitative study of abused women identified a number of themes in participants’ experiences (Lutenbacher et al, 2003). Feelings of shame, hopelessness, low self-esteem and guilt were common as well as a feeling of disconnection between their public and private lives as the women became more isolated from friends, relatives and the local community. Few women were aware of support services and all identified a number of barriers to disclosing abuse including fear and intimidation from their partners and a desire to avoid external judgmental attitudes. One woman who spoke to her priest was criticised for not being a better wife and mother, thus barriers to leaving were evident, even in pastoral relationships. Chatzifotiou (2000) stressed the emotional impact of living in an abusive situation: “The environment is a tense one even when no violence is being perpetrated because the possibility of violence is always present. Thus ... constant fear is still engendered by living in a relationship with serious threats of violence” (p3). What is highlighted in the literature is the state of fear and anxiety that women consistently have to endure, even when violent incidents are episodic. In a series of in-depth interviews with women

who endured chronic domestic abuse, Bostock et al (2009) identified that when participants were not physically abused every day, a sense of gratitude developed that the abuse was sporadic and this led some women to question whether they were being abused at all. Self- blame was a key finding of Hoff’s qualitative study of nine women who had escaped violent relationships by going into refuge accommodation (1990). Hoff points out:

“by internalising the cultural norm that women are largely responsible for the success or failure of human relationships, she interprets her mate’s behaviour as somehow her own doing ... the shame arises from her perceived failure. It moves her to keep the violence to herself and presages the progressive and often extreme isolation in which battered women later find themselves” (p43).

I agree with Hoff that the gender roles women perform keep them entrapped in abusive environments by maintaining cultural expectations that convince them to be a women is to be in a successful relationship. As such, Hoff and others show that self-blame is a common entrapment and is as much a sociological construct as a psychological process as self-blame cannot be separated from the weight of cultural expectations. This is particularly true of sexual violence which adds a further element of shame into the spiral of self-blame. Russell’s research into rape within marriage highlighted women’s sense of sexual obligation in which they were forced to acquiesce to their husbands’ sexual advances (1990). Many participants believed they had no right to refuse sex with their husbands. If women feel obliged to perform sexual acts against their will or believe they deserve beatings from their partners, they are unlikely to leave violent relationships. Again, gender is a significant issue here as women clearly subscribe to gendered notions of intimate relationships in which male partners’ sexual wishes and desires are prioritised. In this context, male violence (and patriarchy) is allowed to flourish. Overwhelming feelings of shame caused by internalised blame described by abused women

lend much to developing an understanding of why women feel unable to leave violent relationships.

While my thesis supports the notion of self-blame as a key feature expressed by all participants it further reveals the complicit shame that statutory services reinforce in confronting physical injuries (see section 2.8). Thus, injuries become visible signifiers that invoke a sense of shame. Professional agencies are influenced by cultural factors and vice versa. Women blame themselves. Society blames them and service provision props up or even verifies those influences. A further difficulty, as my thesis demonstrates, is when shame is linked to an environment where money, housing and childcare are factors in domestic abuse relationships that serve to compound a sense of shame and self-blame, making leaving a supremely difficult endeavour. Hence, a significant issue for social work research is to improve practice in helping abused women to request and accept support and for agencies to recognise the multiple features of abusive relationships. Improving practice can only be achieved with a better understanding of domestic abuse as an experience and professionals must be provided with a pragmatic theoretical framework within which to make sense of its complexities.

Although, as outsiders, it is difficult to fully comprehend domestic abuse, Abrahams’ application of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs aids our understanding of the impact of domestic abuse and provides her own perspective as to why women feel unable to leave abusive relationships. Abrahams (2007) applied Maslow’s theory to understand the impact of domestic abuse on women who had left abusive relationships. According to Maslow (1987) individuals have basic physiological needs for food, water, shelter and clothing. Additionally, they further strive to achieve higher ideals and aspirations. Abrahams (2007) asserts that abused women’s sense of physical and emotional safety is taken away, leaving them and their children with only a basic drive to survive. Self-confidence and feelings of worthiness are destroyed while abused women focus solely on the day-to-day matter of surviving physical, sexual and emotional

abuse. Abrahams’ use of Maslow provides an understanding of the extent to which abused women’s lives become reduced to a daily battle to survive. While this understanding is useful, Maslow’s theory fails to account for gender dynamics rendering women particularly vulnerable to abuse, something my study seeks to redress with the help of a Butlerian approach. Her work disrupts the structuralist notions of Maslow and Abrahams to provide a post-structuralist explanation of how agency can both reinforce and contest women’s identities as victims. Like me, Butler does not attempt to deconstruct structure itself. Instead, she seeks ways in which alternatives to women’s oppression can be constructed to enable women to gain independence from the weight of oppressive structures. In doing so, Butler reveals a discourse that questions the pervasiveness of violence towards women and offers new visions for women’s lives.

In spite of some limitations, Abrahams’ work benefits from its in-depth and longitudinal nature which highlights the lasting impact of domestic abuse and the support women need to overcome it (2010). What is clear from Abrahams’ study is that long before women leave is the desire to do so.