Every minute in the United States, four women are beaten by a significant other. More than half of all female homicide victims in 1993 were killed by a current or former partner. The Handbook of Family Violence identified five major types of family violence and ranked spouse abuse as almost equal in incidence with physical child abuse, which was ranked number one (Gilliland, James 1997).

All the myths on the battering of women have perpetuated the mistaken notion that the victim has precipitated her own assault. Some of them served as a protection against embarrassment, while others were created to protect rescuers from their own discouragement when they were unsuccessful in stopping the brutality. It is imp

Some of the more popular myths are that the battered woman syndrome affects only a small percentage of the population, drinking causes battering behavior, police can protect the battered women, battered women can always leave home, and long-standing battering relationships can change for the better, and most importantly, once a batterer, always a batterer. In actuality, like rape, battering is a seriously underreported crime. Data on wife beating are difficult to obtain because the incidents usually occur at night, in the home, without witnesses. As for drinking, it is hard to deny there is some association between drinking and battering, but what it exactly is is still not known. It does seem reasonable, however, to suggest that in many cases alcohol is blamed as the precipitating factor, whereas it is only a component in the battering relationship. Studies of women have shown that most believe that the police would not be of any help. In fact, only about 10% of women in these situations have called the police.

One result of learned helplessness can be depression. Another result seems to be a change in the battered woman’s perception of the consequences of violence. Living constantly with fear seems to produce an immunity to the seriousness of violence and death. The first step in stopping learned helplessness would be persuading the battered woman to leave the battering relationship or persuade the batterer to leave. Secondly, battered women need to be taught to change their failure expectancy to reverse a negative cognitive set. They need to understand what success is, to raise their motivation and aspiration levels, to be able to initiate new and more effective responses, so they can learn to control their own lives. Self-esteem and feelings of competence are extremely important in protecting against feelings of helplessness and depression. Women must be able to believe that their behavior will effect what happens to them. Counseling or psychotherapy can teach women to control their own lives an to be able to erase that kind of victim potential.

Some topics in this essay:
Gilliland James, Loving Behavior, , Family Violence, battered women, battered woman, acute battering, acute battering incident, battered woman’s, battering incidents, battering incident, secondary intervention, control own lives, primary prevention, battering cycle, own lives, agencies institutions support, battered women leave, women leave home,