Domestic violence is a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors that adults or adolescents use against their current or former partners.  Domestic violence occurs in intimate relationships where the perpetrator and the victim are currently or have previously  been dating, living together, married or divorced.

There are four different types of abuse:

When an abuser imposes physical abuse on his victim he may: 

¨ Hit her

¨ Kick her

¨ Punch her

¨ Throws things at her

¨ Locks her out of the house

¨ Refuses her medical treatment

¨ Refuses her food

Rape and sexual abuse can be indicated when the batterer:

¨ Withholds sex or affection as punishment

¨ Pressures her to have sex when she doesn’t want to

¨ Coerces sex by manipulation or threats

¨ Physically forces her to have sex or is violent during the act of sex

¨ Denies the victim contraception or protection against sexually transmitted diseases.

Psychological abuse can be identified when the abuser:

¨ Verbally attacks and humiliates his partner in private or public

¨ Plays mind games

¨ Forces the victim to do degrading things

¨ Withholds approval or affection as punishment

¨ Ignores her feelings

¨ Regularly threatens to leave or tells her to leave

¨ Harasses her about affairs he imagines her to be having

¨ Always claims to be right

Economic abuse occurs when the batterer:

¨ Controls all the money

¨ Refuses to work and make her support the family

¨ Ruins her credit rating

¨ Doesn’t let her work outside of the home, or sabotages her attempts to work or go to school