ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the physical and psychological impact of exposure to domestic violence on children. It explores how witnessing and experiencing intimate partner violence. It explores how witnessing and experiencing intimate partner violence impacts on children and creates an unbearable scenario in the mind that is acted out both in disturbed and aggressive behaviour at the time, and also leads to an increased likelihood of an 'action replay' of destructive relationships in later life. The chapter introduces a clinical illustration of the unexpected exposure of the truth can be found in further exploration of Shane and Lucy. Gerhardt describes the direct impact of deprivation, trauma and abuse on the brain of the developing infant, citing a rich body of empirical data. John Bowlby described how an 'attachment behavioural system' was one of four behavioural systems that are innate and evolutionarily function to ensure survival of the species.
