ABSTRACT
The women expressed complaints as well as understanding of people they turned to for help. In spite of their desperate need of assistance, they often gave people the benefit of the doubt, even when deeply disappointed in the responses they received to their appeals for help. This chapter examines and compares the limits of support these women received both from natural network members and from formal network members. It draws on Caplan's concept of supplies for mental health and Hansell's expansion of Caplan's work in his description of essential attachments, the disruption of which results in signals of distress and possible crisis. Kepferer describes network as a set of points defined in relation to an initial point of focus and linked by lines either directly or indirectly to this initial point of focus. Individual responses to network questions clarify further the process of interaction between battered women and their network members.
