To this day, despite the great progress and empowerment that women have achieved, the scourge of domestic violence remains.

Thousands of women are abused and killed by their partners every year. The violence not only takes the form of physical bruises and wounds, but also has a deep psychological impact. As a result of the behavioural and emotional symptoms that many women who have suffered have shown, the battered woman syndrome has been proposed as the psychopathology suffered by this group.

Although the concept behind this syndrome has been debatable, it has certainly been of great importance in legal proceedings on gender-based violence. Let’s look more deeply at what this psychodiagnostic proposal consists of.

What is battered woman syndrome?

The battered woman syndrome is a proposal of psychological disorder through which those women who have been victims of gender violence pass . This syndrome has been related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and in recent years has been gaining greater recognition, especially in the judicial sphere, especially in cases in which the woman, after years of suffering abuse, has murdered her husband or boyfriend.

Gender-based violence, also called domestic violence by some sectors, refers to any act of physical and emotional abuse normally produced in the home and perpetrated by a person who is part of the victim’s intimate or family circle. The consequences of this are multiple, manifesting feelings of sadness, anguish, fear and a high affectation in life in general.

Although it is playing a very prominent role in the field of forensic psychology, it is not yet included within the DSM or the ICD, mainly because there are many doubts about its validity as a real disorder. Regardless of whether or not an agreement is reached and a new diagnostic label is created to refer to this syndrome, it has been very well demonstrated that years of physical and verbal abuse imply psychological problems in the person .

Associated symptomatology

Having suffered constant mistreatment leaves a deep impression on the entire psychic world of women, showing itself more clearly when it comes to relating to the rest of the world and performing as an adult individual. The victim’s ability to respond to the abuse decreases as it increases in frequency and intensity throughout the relationship. With time, the woman becomes very passive, submissive, with very low self-esteem and with a deep fear of displeasing her abuser .

No one likes to be attacked or humiliated, but despite not wanting to be abused, they end up believing that they really deserve it, that they are as bad as couples that their boyfriend or husband has no alternative but to teach them through violence. Thus, they feel totally guilty about the situation they are trapped in. Women who are victims of this type of violence often feel tired and powerless , in addition to suffering in a constant situation of panic.

All of this leads to a series of depressive and anxiety-related symptoms such as moodiness, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, as well as sleep problems, such as insomnia. In addition, other disorders can occur, whether they are mood disorders or disorders such as eating disorders, addictions and PTSD. They have very noticeable cognitive problems, such as lack of concentration, dissociation, distortion of their own body image, denial, pessimistic thinking…

Cycle of violence

In order to understand in greater depth the syndrome of abused women and also to understand the terrible situation they go through, it is necessary to understand the three main phases that make up the cycle of domestic violence, proposed by the American psychologist Lenore Walker .

1. Phase of accumulated voltage

At this stage, the victim tries to negotiate with her abuser with the intention of calming him down. She thinks she can really make him change.

During this point in the relationship, the loss of contact with the victim’s group of friends begins.

At the same time, violence, which although not yet physical, is beginning to increase in the form of raging and shouting .

2. Acute abuse phase

The accumulated stress comes out in the form of assault and sexual abuse. The abuser insults, humiliates and hits his partner.

3. Calm and reconciliation phase

After aggressions, as after a storm, comes calm. This phase has also been called ‘the honeymoon’.

At this stage the abuser sees how his actions have contributed to the endangerment of the relationship, but to keep his victim trapped he convinces her that this was her fault, although he promises that it will not happen again and that everything will be fine. Unfortunately, however, the cycle restarts, and these same phases occur again, each time with a greater probability that the abused person will kill his or her partner.

Phases of Battered Women’s Syndrome

In relation to the phases of the cycle of violence explained in the previous section, the phases that occur during the development of this syndrome are explained in more detail below.

1. Trigger

Early abuse already jeopardizes a woman’s trust in her partner.

When this trust is broken, the idealized vision that one had of one’s partner and the expectations placed on the relationship are also shattered.

2. Reorientation

The woman, who is now a victim, tries to find other references, but this is made difficult because she has already begun the process by which her relationships will be increasingly diminished by her partner’s control over her.

He blames himself for the situation, and also enters into a deep feeling of helplessness .

3. Coping

Here she assumes how her boyfriend or husband behaves and tries to redirect the relationship without success.

4. Adaptation

The woman does not blame her abuser, but projects this feeling or guilt onto other people or onto herself.

Stages of recovery

Fortunately, thanks to various therapies, it is possible for people who manifest the battered woman syndrome to recover. At first it is a little hard for them to realize that they are being abused, and that this is not a situation they have a right to run away from. As the next stages of recovery unfold, the woman gradually sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

1. Denial

At first the woman refuses to admit that she is trapped in an abusive relationship, or even acknowledge that the relationship is not going well.

He often makes excuses for his partner’s violence, saying that it will not happen again or that it was a really exceptional situation.

2. Guilt

At this point, the woman becomes aware that there is indeed a problem , but still believes that the blame lies with herself, not with the abuser.

She feels she deserves to be treated this way because she is not really the woman she should be or has done something wrong.

3. Illustration

It is here that one could say that she is beginning to lift her head, since she no longer sees herself as the culprit of the situation.

Despite this, he continues to believe that he should stay by his partner’s side because he still has hope that they will be able to change things .

4. Responsibility

This is the end point of recovery because the woman sees that her husband or boyfriend is not going to change and that she has no right to do what he is doing to her.

She learns that she has to get out of the relationship anyway, that the abuse is not going to stop until she gets away from the abuser and reports him.

Treatments

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, battered women’s syndrome is not a disorder included in any of the two main diagnostic manuals in the field of psychology, although it is used, especially in the United States, in trials on domestic violence and murder of the husband .

However, there are a series of therapies that have been applied with the intention of reducing the symptoms associated with this diagnostic proposal. Let’s see the two most remarkable ones.

1. Feminist therapy

Feminist therapy proposes to take into account during psychotherapy the structural elements of society that still make gender differences prevail .

This, with respect to the syndrome explained here, aims to empower women to take an active role in reporting their abuser, as well as to enable the recovery process.

In addition, feminist therapy has been used to evaluate the patients and to be able to explain, in judicial terms, the syndrome resulting from the mistreatment suffered over several years.

2. STEP Program

STEP stands for “Survivor Therapy Empowerment Program” .

This therapy, which has been empirically validated in clinical and prison populations, consists of the following twelve steps:
1: Defining domestic violence
2: Overcome dysfunctional thinking and design a safety plan
3: Think, feel and act.
4: Change to positive thinking and anger management.
5: Managing stress and practicing relaxation.
6: The cycle of violence and the psychological effects of violence.
7: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Battered Women’s Syndrome
8: Mourning the end of a relationship.
9: Effects of Domestic Violence on Children.
10: Learning to ask yourself what you want.
11: Establishing Healthy Relationships
12: Ending a Relationship

Bibliographic reference:

  • Walker, L. E. (2009). The battered Woman Syndrome – Third edition. New York: Springer.
  • Walker, L. (2012). The battered woman syndrome. Desclée de Brouwer editors.