On the topic of Mental Health Impacts within Domestic Violence victims, one of the issues that I have come across during my research is Battered Women’s Syndrome. This came as a shock to me, as I had no idea it even existed or that women can suffer from this, due to domestic violence.

BWS is considered to be a subcategory of PTSD. It is a result of long term domestic abuse (Gotter, 2017). As I have previously spoken about in previous blogs, perpetrators would involve the victim in a cycle of harming them, then swearing not to do it again, which can cause many mental health impacts for the victims.  This cycle and the victim being stuck in it can cause BWS to develop and makes it difficult to regain control. (Gotter, 2017)

The cycle of violence wheel

 

There are 4 stages that women go through when suffering from BWS (Gotter, 2017), these include:

• Denial – unable to accept they are being abused
• Guilt – Believes that abuse is their fault
• Enlightenment – realises that the abuse wasn’t what they deserved, acknowledges that the blame is on her partner.
• Responsibility – takes responsibility that the actions caused by her abuser, are not her fault and at this stage, the victim will try to escape.

Additionally, common characteristics are visible with victims of BWS, the victim may, according to FindLaw:

• take full responsibility for the abuse
• fear for her safety
• believes that the abuser is too powerful for her to escape, and may hurt her if she tries to get help.

Battered Woman Syndrome and the Law

In very chilling cases, women may snap and feel like the only way out is to intentionally harm their abusers, with many cases all over the world finding that women who murder their partner, have experienced abuse or have been threatened by the partner. BWS victims live in a constant state of fear, where they feel that their abuser will kill her eventually.  This theory suggests that women who kill their abusers feel like the only way out from this imminent danger is to take out the abuser (Easteal, 1992, pg. 221). In courts, this has been since recognised and is considered to be self-defence. Accepting BWS by courts has been rather difficult and comes with many different responses. With some saying that it is progress in recognising abused women and extending the meaning of self-defence, while others argue that women can easily leave the relationship (gotocourt, n.d.)

 

References

Easteal, P 1992, Battered Woman Syndrome: What is Reasonable?, Austlii, vol. 17, pg. 220 – 227, online, viewed 24/05/2019 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AltLawJl/1992/102.pdf

FindLaw 2019, Battered Woman Syndrome, online, viewed 24/05/2019 https://family.findlaw.com/domestic-violence/battered-women-s-syndrome.html

Gotter, A 2017, Battered Woman Syndrome, Healthline, online, viewed 24/05/2019 https://www.healthline.com/health/battered-woman-syndrome

Go To Court Lawyers, N.D., Battered Woman Syndrome: Women Who Kill Thier Abusers, online,  https://www.gotocourt.com.au/legal-news/battered-woman-syndrome/, viewed 24/05/2019