Domestic violence: 10 signs to detect a battered woman
The year 2016 has been closed with a total of 44 women murdered only in our country by their partners. Identify the domestic violence, detecting when a woman is being mistreated to help her, is the road to eradication. These are the most obvious signs.
It is everyone's job to identify these behaviors, censor them and educate our children in their condemnation and total rejection. The gender violence It is everyone's problem.
10 signs to identify a battered woman
Psychologist Pilar Conde explains that "having social support always ensures more possibilities of getting out of domestic violence." Thus, this expert has identified the following signs that can help identify and detect hidden victims of domestic violence:
1. They do not usually express their needs, yielding to what your partner asks.
2. When we observe them with their partner, they are submissive, they totally change their way of acting if they are in front of them and are submitted.
3. They do not make decisions, if they do not have the consent of their partner.
4. They make excuses. Generally, upon discovering a bruise, he makes excuses such as: "I have fallen", "I have hit the door", "if I am very clueless"; and we observe that this happens frequently. Also, when the blow is greater than the given justification, when asked about the matter, try to quickly change the subject.
5. They have depressive and anxiety symptoms due to the level of stress lived on a daily basis.
6. Your social network tends to be sparse of interactions. Does not participate in leisure and social activities.
7. Justify your partner, when we talk to him about the strange behavior we are observing.
8. You may have sleep problems, showing more tired during the day and changing eating patterns, going up or down in weight. If the abuse is maintained these aspects may be difficult to assess.
9. Family separation It may have moved away from the family nucleus.
10. Changes in your way of dressing, may have begun to wear more discreet clothing. You may not interact with men, especially if your partner is ahead.
As Conde explains, "The fact that a person ends up being a victim of gender violence, it is not from one day to the next, it is a slow process in which the abuser intermittently establishes the behavior of violence, alternating it with other compensatory and reinforcers ".
Domestic violence: how to detect and help battered women
When the wheel of protection and care begins to turn, it is fought to prevent new cases, but also to avoid recidivism, to ensure that battered women subjected to abuse achieve self-determination to break the vicious circle.
The great problem that these people suffer is their loneliness. According to Conde, "there are cases in which the aggressor is perceived as someone who is experiencing a temporary problem and is afraid of damaging him through the complaint." There are also cases in which there is fear for the life of the victim. abused person or in which it is the victim herself that blocks any type of approach from outside. "
In other situations, too many, There is not even a suspicion that a situation of domestic violence is taking place next door, since "a significant percentage of people who mistreat can be sociable and pleasant with the environment, which makes it difficult to externally identify her as an" abuser ", says this psychologist.
It is also not easy to detect the victims of gender violence that they may become guilty of the situation or to be afraid of separating when not having a job and therefore, economic independence: "When the mistreatment is established in a more recurrent way, the woman may already think that it is her responsibility, that she has to protect her partner, she is afraid for herself, for her children, he can believe that he deserves it, that he does it because he loves her very much, that if he does something "bad" he deserves punishment. At that time the woman has been isolated from their environment, so she is still more alone, and more afraid. On the other hand, if the person is not financially independent, he or she has a greater risk of remaining in that situation, for fear of not having money and not being able to support herself and / or her children. "
In reality, it is a vicious circle that needs to open the doors to a new life. In the words of psychologist Pilar Conde, "there has been an increase in psychological consultations of women who have already been able to break this relationship and who want to work on various psychological aspects such as the emotional consequences of mistreatment, self-determination, assertiveness, coping with anxiety, improving mood and emotional independence. "
Marisol Nuevo Espin
Advice: Pilar Conde, Technical Director of Clínicas Origen
