Domestic Violence And Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence is abuse or “harm by a current or former partner or spouse. This type of violence can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples and does not require sexual intimacy” (“Intimate Partner Violence”, 2014). The main difference between intimate partner violence and domestic abuse is that domestic abuse is usually referred to as violence between a married couple or immediate family members, but they are usually used interchangeably. The views of intimate partner violence may vary from person to person. Some people think it is only physical abuse, but it is not (Jeltsen, 2014). Some abuse is not seen, but it is felt internally by the victim. Abuse can come in many different forms: physical, sexual, emotional, psychological,

Physical abuse can be more than one being hit, it also includes “Withholding access to resources necessary to maintain health, for example, medical care, food or fluids, sleep, hygienic assistance, etc.” (“Five Forms of Domestic Violence,” n.d.). Sexual abuse can include: forcing one to commit a sexual action against his or her will, rape, or even “undermining one’s sexuality (“Five Forms of Domestic Violence,” n.d.). Psychological abuse can contain, but is not limited to: threats, intimidation, or stalking. Emotional abuse has a range of many factors, but some things are: criticism, name-calling, and insults. As for economical abuse, it is usually referred to when the abuser withholds money from the victim, but it can also include the abuser forbidding the victim from employment, harassing one at his or her job, control of the money, etc. (“Five Forms of Domestic Violence,”

The couples I know went through a cycle. The cycle of abuse is very common among abusive couples (“Cycle of Violence,” n.d.). The cycle may vary among couples, but it usually contains four stages: the incident, tension or fighting, making-up, and a happy phase. The incident stage is when an event occurs that triggers the abuser’s anger and he or she views it as a justification to abuse his or her partner. Sometimes after the abuse, the abuser apologizes or tries to make-up for his or her actions in different ways and reassures the victim that it will not happen again (“Cycle of Violence,”