What Is Domestic Violence and Why It’s Important to Seek Help

According to the Centre for Disease Control, domestic violence, or intimate partner violence as it’s also commonly called, impacts millions of people across the United States each year. Many men and women alike will experience some form of domestic violence in their lifetime, however, it’s important to remember that there are a variety of different behaviors that can be included in the category of domestic violence.

Learn more about some of the signs of domestic violence, and why it’s so important to seek help, whether it be through community support services, in-person or online domestic violence counseling, or through your network of friends and family.

What is Domestic Violence

When many people think of the term domestic violence, the automatic association is some sort of physical abuse. The reality is that domestic violence can appear in many forms, and a lack of physical harm doesn’t mean that you are free from psychological or emotional harm, or from experiencing prolonged abuse of your rights, freedoms, and personhood. A victim of domestic violence might be experiencing one or more of the following:

1. Physical Abuse- This type of intimate partner violence includes physical violence such as hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, or burning. However, it can also include behaviors such as controlling medications, coercing partners to use substances, throwing household objects, or using them as weapons, along with a variety of other acts.
2. Emotional Abuse- This is an act to control a loved one verbally through name-calling, insulting, intimidation, isolation, shaming, humiliating, and trying to control what a partner does, where they go, or how they dress. Gaslighting, or making a partner feel like they are irrational or crazy is another common type of emotional abuse.
3. Sexual Abuse- Includes behaviors to establish control through methods like unwanted sexual activity, unwanted touching, birth control sabotage, reproductive coercion, or sexual assault, amongst other things.
4. Financial Abuse- This form of coercion is less widely recognized, but still also quite common, and includes behaviors like control of the abuser on how money is spent, limiting partners’ access to money and bank accounts, denying a partner the right to work, and misusing a partner’s financial resources.

Seeking Help

If you or someone you know is experiencing any type of intimate partner violence, it’s extremely important to seek out help in a way that is safe and supportive. Communicating with friends or family about what you are experiencing can help give you some perspective on different behaviors that you may be realizing are red flags. Additionally, connecting through online domestic violence counseling might help give you the tools you need to move forward with a safe plan to break things off or assist you in any supportive recovery you might need.

Get Online Domestic Violence Counseling & More

If you’re looking for expert mental health professionals to support you during this time, get in touch with us today at ACT Teletherapy. Our expertly trained domestic violence therapists will work with you to provide the care you need while you’re seeking help.