ABSTRACT

This chapter explores some important words in battering intervention: abuse and battering. The method of the harm can come from a variety of sources: physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional. Physical abuse is destructive physically and emotionally to the victim of the attack. Victims of verbal abuse most often feel fear, hopelessness, guilt, and pain. Any of the forms of abuse can be emotionally painful; however, some methods of abuse are directed at harming the person's feelings or sense of self and reality. Tactics of emotional abuse are designed to take the focus off the batterers and to make the victims take the blame for the problems and to distrust their view of reality within the relationship. Refocusing the issue and isolating the partner are common forms of emotional abuse. Controlling sexual attitudes and values can have a destructive impact that often is overlooked in battering relationships.