Domestic Violence it's effects on women and children

-Birdy

Effects of Domestic Violence
Health Consequences For Victims of Domestic Violence

Psychological consequences:
• Stress-related disorders
• Sleep disturbances
• Depression
• Suicidal ideation/actions
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Alcohol and other substance abuse
• Eating disorders

Physiologic consequences:
• Chronic pain of all kinds (migranes/headaches, pelvic pain)
• Chest pain/heart palpitations
• Irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal problems
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Urinary tract infections
• Sexually transmitted infections
• Hearing loss
• Stammering
• Vision problems

Effects of Domestic Violence on Victims

Produces Thinking Errors:
• Second Guessing
• Self Blaming
• Self-Effacement
• Internalizing Offender’s View

• Profound Pessimism

Changes Affect and Mood:
• Perception of Hopelessness
• Anger Outbursts
• Fluctuations in Mood
• Multiple Fears
• Multiple Anxieties

Changes Self-View:
• Diminished Sense of Self-Efficacy
• Lowered Self-Esteem
• Perception of Helplessness


Changes World View:
• Dangerous
• Unpredictable
• Unreliable
• Untrustworthy

Effects on Children
Children exposed to family violence are at risk for developing:

• Impaired brain functioning, cognitive development and information processing
• Destructive relational patterns (distorted images of relationships, family and gender roles)
• Psychopathology (internalizing behaviors such as depression as well as externalizing  behaviors  such as antisocial behaviors like stealing)
• Low self-esteem
• More depression and anxiety
• Greater behavioral and attention problems in school
• Delinquent behavior in adolescence
• Violent behavior in adulthood
• Poor coping behaviors that often lead to responding less appropriately to situations
• More aggressive behavior with peers
• More ambivalent relationships with caregivers

Effects of domestic violence at different age-levels:

• Pre-Natal:
o Increased miscarriages due to increased beatings and/or mother’s stress
o Poor health due to mother’s stress and lack of proper nutrition


• Infants:
o Crying and irritability
o Sleep disturbances
o Digestive problems


• Toddlers & Preschoolers:
o More aggressive than other children or
o More withdrawn than other children
o Impaired cognitive abilities
o Delays in verbal development
o Poor motor abilities
o General fearfulness, anxiety
o Stomach aches
o Nightmares
o Lack of bowel and bladder control in children over three years
o Lack of confidence to begin new tasks

• School Age:
o Poor grades, or in special classes (SLD, EH)
o Failure of one or more grade levels
o Poor social skills
o Low self esteem
o General aggressiveness
o Violent outbursts of anger
o Bullying or Withdrawn, dependent
o Bed wetting
     oo Digestive problems, ulcers
o Headaches (not related to eye strain or sinus)


• Teenagers:
o Poor grades, failure in school, quits school
o Low self esteem
o Refuses to bring friends home
o Stays away from home or runaway
o Feels responsible to take care of home and mother
o Violent outbursts of anger, destroying property
o Poor judgment, irresponsible decision making
o Unable to communicate feelings
o Immaturity
o Withdrawn, few friends
o Nightmares
o Ulcers, digestive problems
o Bed wetting
o Headaches
o Severe acne
o Males hitting their girlfriends or females hit by their boyfriends

-Remember Domestic Violence not only affects the partner but all others in the family as well.






-Birdy