Battered Women Essay, Research Paper

In 1991, Governor William Weld modified parole regulations and permitted women

to seek commutation if they could present evidence indicating they suffered from

battered women’s syndrome. A short while later, the Governor, citing spousal

abuse as his impetus, released seven women convicted of killing their husbands,

and the Great and General Court of Massachusetts enacted Mass. Gen. L. ch. 233 _

23E (1993), which permits the introduction of evidence of abuse in criminal

trials. These decisive acts brought the issue of domestic abuse to the public’s

attention and left many Massachusetts residents, lawyers and judges struggling

to define battered women’s syndrome. In order to help these individuals define

battered women’s syndrome, the origins and development of the three primary

theories of the syndrome and recommended treatments are outlined below. I. The

Classical Theory of Battered Women’s Syndrome and its Origins The Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), known in the mental health

field as the clinician’s bible, does not recognize battered women’s syndrome as

a distinct mental disorder. In fact, Dr. Lenore Walker, the architect of the

classical battered women’s syndrome theory, notes the syndrome is not an

illness, but a theory that draws upon the principles of learned helplessness to

explain why some women are unable to leave their abusers. Therefore, the

classical battered women’s syndrome theory is best regarded as an offshoot of

the theory of learned helplessness and not a mental illness that afflicts abused

women. The theory of learned helplessness sought to account for the passive

behavior subjects exhibited when placed in an uncontrollable environment. In the

late 60’s and early 70’s, Martin Seligman, a famous researcher in the field of

psychology, conducted a series of experiments in which dogs were placed in one

of two types of cages. In the former cage, henceforth referred to as the shock

cage, a bell would sound and the experimenters would electrify the entire floor

seconds later, shocking the dog regardless of location. The latter cage,

however, although similar in every other respect to the shock cage, contained a

small area where the experimenters could administer no shock. Seligman observed

that while the dogs in the latter cage learned to run to the nonelectrified area

after a series of shocks, the dogs in the shock cage gave up trying to escape,

even when placed in the latter cage and shown that escape was possible. Seligman

theorized that the dogs’ initial experience in the uncontrollable shock cage led

them to believe that they could not control future events and was responsible

for the observed disruptions in behavior and learning. Thus, according to the

theory of learned helplessness, a subject placed in an uncontrollable

environment will become passive and accept painful stimuli, even though escape

is possible and apparent. In the late 1970’s, Dr. Walker drew upon Seligman’s

research and incorporated it into her own theory, the battered women’s syndrome,

in an attempt to explain why battered women remain with their abusers. According

to Dr. Walker, battered women’s syndrome contains two distinct elements: a cycle

of violence and symptoms of learned helplessness. The cycle of violence is

composed of three phases: the tension building phase, active battering phase and

calm loving respite phase. During the tension building phase, the victim is

subjected to verbal abuse and minor battering incidents, such as slaps, pinches

and psychological abuse. In this phase, the woman tries to pacify her batterer

by using techniques that have worked previously. Typically, the woman showers

her abuser with kindness or attempts to avoid him. However, the victim’s

attempts to pacify her batter are often fruitless and only work to delay the

inevitable acute battering incident. The tension building phase ends and the

active battering phase begins when the verbal abuse and minor battering evolve

into an acute battering incident. A release of the tensions built during phase

one characterizes the active battering phase, which usually last for a period of

two to twenty-four hours. The violence during this phase is unpredictable and

inevitable, and statistics indicate that the risk of the batterer murdering his

victim is at its greatest. The batterer places his victim in a constant state of

fear, and she is unable to control her batterer’s violence by utilizing

techniques that worked in the tension building phase. The victim, realizing her

lack of control, attempts to mitigate the violence by becoming passive. After

the active battering phase comes to a close, the cycle of violence enters the

calm loving respite phase or "honeymoon phase." During this phase, the

batterer apologizes for his abusive behavior and promises that it will never

happen again. The behavior exhibited by the batter in the calm loving respite

phase closely resembles the behavior he exhibited when the couple first met and

fell in love. The calm loving respite phase is the most psychologically

victimizing phase because the batterer fools the victim, who is relieved that

the abuse has ended, into believing that he has changed. However, inevitably,

the batterer begins to verbally abuse his victim and the cycle of abuse begins

anew. According to Dr. Walker, Seligman’s theory of learned helplessness

explains why women stay with their abusers and occurs in a victim after the

cycle of violence repeats numerous times. As noted earlier, dogs who were placed

in an environment where pain was unavoidable responded by becoming passive. Dr.

Walker asserts that, in the domestic abuse ambit, sporadic brutality,

perceptions of powerlessness, lack of financial resources and the superior

strength of the batterer all combine to instill a feeling of helplessness in the

victim. In other words, batterers condition women into believing that they are

powerless to escape by subjecting them to a continuing pattern of uncontrollable

violence and abuse. Dr. Walker, in applying the learned helplessness theory to

battered women, changed society’s perception of battered women by dispelling the

myth that battered women like abuse and offering a logical and rationale

explanation for why most stay with their abuser. As the classical theory of

battered women’s syndrome is based upon the psychological principles of

conditioning, experts believe that behavior modification strategies are best

suited for treating women suffering from the syndrome. A simple, yet effective,

behavioral strategy consists of two stages. In the initial stage, the battered

woman removes herself from the uncontrollable or "shock cage"

environment and isolates herself from her abuser. Generally, professionals help

the victim escape by using assertiveness training, modeling and recommending use

of the court system. After the woman terminates the abusive relationship,

professionals give the victim relapse prevention training to ensure that

subsequent exposure to abusive behavior will not cause maladaptive behavior.

Although this strategy is effective, the model offered by Dr. Walker suggests

that battered women usually do not actively seek out help. Therefore, concerned

agencies and individuals must be proactive and extremely sensitive to the needs

and fears of victims. In sum, the classical battered women’s syndrome is a

theory that has its origins in the research of Martin Seligman. Women in a

domestic abuse situation experience a cycle of violence with their abuser. The

cycle is composed of three phases: the tension building phase, active battering

phase and calm loving respite phase. A gradual increase in verbal abuse marks

the tension building phase. When this abuse culminates into an acute battering

episode, the relationship enters the active battering phase. Once the acute

battering phase ends, usually within two to twenty-four hours, the parties enter

the calm loving respite phase, in which the batterer expresses remorse and

promises to change. After the cycle has played out several times, the victim

begins to manifest symptoms of learned helplessness. Behavioral modification

strategies offer an effective treatment for battered women’s syndrome. However,

Dr. Walker’s model indicates that battered women may not seek the help that they

need because of feelings of helplessness. II. An Alternate Battered Women’s

Syndrome Theory: Battered Women as Survivors. Over the years, empirical data has

emerged that casts doubt on Dr. Walker’s explanation of why women stay with

their batterers or, in extreme cases, why they kill their abusers. Two

researchers, Edward W. Gondolf and Ellen R. Fisher, make reference to voluminous

statistics that refute the classical battered women’s syndrome theory, and

suggest Dr. Walker erroneously attributes a victim’s refusal to leave her

batterer to learned helplessness. For instance, the two, in discounting Dr.

Walker’s theory, cite a study conducted by Lee H. Bowker that indicates victims

of abuse often contact other family members for help as the violence escalates

over time. The two also note that Bowker observed a steady increase in formal

help-seeking behavior as the violence increased. In addition to citing empirical

data, Gondolf and Fisher point out that using Dr. Walker’s theory to explain the

battered woman’s actions in extreme cases creates the ultimate oxymoron: a woman

so helpless she kills her batterer. In an effort to account for the shortcomings

of the classical battered women’s theory, Gondolf and Fisher offered the

markedly different survivor theory of battered women’s syndrome, which consists

of four important elements. The first element of the survivor theory surmises

that a pattern of abuse prompts battered women to employ innovative coping

strategies and to seek help, such as flattering the batterer and turning to

their families for assistance. When these sources of help prove ineffective, the

battered woman seeks out other sources and employs different strategies to

lessen the abuse. For example, the battered women may avoid her abuser all

together and seek help from the court system. Thus, according to the survivor

theory, battered women actively seek help and employ coping skills throughout

the abusive relationship. In contrast, the classical theory of battered women’s

syndrome views women as becoming passive and helpless in the face of repeated

abuse. The second element of Gondolf and Fisher’s theory posits that a lack of

options, know-how and finances, not learned helplessness, instills a feeling of

anxiety in the victim that prevents her from escaping the abuser. When a

battered woman seeks outside help, she is typically confronted with an

ineffective bureaucracy, insufficient help sources and societal indifference.

This lack of practical options, combined with the victim’s lack of financial

resources, make it likely that a battered women will stay and try to change her

batterer, rather than leave and face the unknown. The classical battered women’s

syndrome theory differs in that it focuses on the victim’s perception that

escape is impossible, not on the obstacles the victim must overcome to escape.

The third element expands on the first and describes how the victim actively

seeks help from a variety of formal and informal help sources. For instance, an

example of an informal help source would be a close friend and a formal help

source would be a shelter. Gondolf and Fisher maintain that the help obtained

from these sources is inadequate and piecemeal in nature. Given these

inadequacies, the researchers conclude that the leaving a batterer is a

difficult path for a victim to embark upon. The fourth element of the survivor

theory hypothesizes that the failure of the aforementioned help sources to

intervene in a comprehensive and decisive manner permits the cycle of abuse to

continue unchecked. Interestingly, Gondolf and Fisher blame the lack of

effective help on a variation of the learned helplessness theory, explaining

help organizations are too overwhelmed and limited in their resources to be

effective and therefore do not try as hard as they should to help victims.

Whatever the case may be, the researchers argue that we can better understand

the plight of the battered woman by asking did she seek help and what happened

when she did, rather than why didn’t she leave. Because the survivor theory of

learned helplessness attributes the battered woman’s plight to ineffective help

sources and societal indifference, a logical solution would entail increased

funding for programs in place and educating the public about the symptoms and

consequences of domestic violence. There are battered women’s advocacy programs

in place in courts located throughout the country. However, inadequate funding

limits their effectiveness. By increasing funding, citizens can assure that all

battered women will receive the assistance that will permit them to escape their

batterer. Additionally, if we educate citizens about the harmful effects of

domestic abuse, the public will no longer treat victims with indifference. To

recap, Edward W. Gondolf and Ellen R. Fisher developed the survivor theory of

battered women’s syndrome to explain why statistics indicate that battered women

increase their help seeking behavior as the violence escalates. The theory is

composed of four important elements. The first recognizes that battered women

actively seek help throughout their relationship with the abuser. The second

element posits that a lack of options, know-how and finances creates anxiety in

the victim over leaving her batterer. The third element describes the inadequate

and piecemeal help the victim receives. Finally, the fourth element concludes

that the failure of help sources, not learned helplessness, accounts for why

many battered women remain with their abusers. Under the survivor theory, the

best method for helping battered women is to increase funding for battered

women’s assistance programs and agencies and educate the public about the

harmful effects of domestic abuse. III. Battered Women’s Syndrome Equals Post

Traumatic Stress Disorder Although the DSM-IV does not recognize battered

women’s syndrome as a distinct mental illness or disorder, some experts maintain

that battered women’s syndrome is just another name for post traumatic stress

disorder, which the DSM-IV recognizes. The post traumatic stress disorder theory

is also applied to individuals who were never exposed to domestic abuse, and, in

the domestic abuse ambit, does not exclusively focus on the battered woman’s

perception of helplessness or ineffective help sources to explain why she stayed

with her batterer. Instead, the theory focuses on the psychological disturbance

an individual suffers after exposure to a traumatic event. In 1980, the American

Psychiatric Association added the post traumatic stress disorder classification

to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III, a manual used

by mental health professionals to diagnose mental illness. Although the

diagnosis was controversial at the time, post traumatic stress disorder has

gained wide acceptance in the mental health community and revolutionized the way

professionals regard human reactions to trauma. Prior to the disorder’s

inception, experts attributed the cause of emotional trauma to individual

weakness. However, with the advent of the theory of post traumatic stress

disorder, experts now attribute the etiology of emotional trauma to an external

stressor, not a weakness in the psyche of the individual. Since 1980, the

American Psychiatric Association has revised the criteria for diagnosing post

traumatic stress disorder several times. Currently, the diagnostic criteria for

post traumatic stress disorder include a history of exposure to a traumatic

event and symptoms from each of three symptom clusters: intrusive recollections,

avoidant/numbing symptoms and hyper arousal symptoms. Recent data indicate that

many individuals qualify for a post traumatic stress disorder under the current

diagnostic criteria, with prevalence rates running between 5 to 10% in our

society. As noted earlier, in order for a diagnosis of post traumatic stress

disorder to apply, the individual must have been exposed to a traumatic event

involving actual or threatened death or injury, or a threat to the physical

integrity of the person or others. The authors of the early theory of post

traumatic stress disorder considered a traumatic event to be outside the range

of human experience, such events included rape, torture, war, the Holocaust, the

atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanos,

airplane crashes and automobile accidents, and did not contemplate applying the

diagnosis to battered women. The American Psychiatric Association loosened the

traumatic event criteria in the DSM-IV, which replaced the DSM-III and DSM-IIIR.

Presently, the traumatic event need only be markedly distressing to almost

anyone. Therefore, battered women have little trouble meeting the DSM-IV

traumatic event diagnostic requirement because most people would find the abuse

battered women are subjected to markedly distressing. In addition to meeting the

traumatic event diagnostic criteria, an individual must have symptoms from the

intrusive recollection, avoidant/numbing and hyper arousal categories for a post

traumatic stress disorder diagnosis to apply. The intrusive recollection

category consists of symptoms that are distinct and easily identifiable. In

individuals suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, the traumatic event

is a dominant psychological experience that evokes panic, terror, dread, grief

or despair. Often, these feelings are manifested in daytime fantasies, traumatic

nightmares and flashbacks. Additionally, stimuli that the individual associates

with the traumatic event can evoke mental images, emotional responses and

psychological reactions associated with the trauma. Examples of intrusive

recollection symptoms a battered woman may suffer are fantasies of killing her

batterer and flashbacks of battering incidents. The avoidant/numbing cluster

consists of the emotional strategies individuals with post traumatic stress

disorder use to reduce the likelihood that they will either expose themselves to

traumatic stimuli, or if exposed, will minimize their psychological response.

The DSM-IV divides the strategies into three categories: behavioral, cognitive

and emotional. Behavioral strategies include avoiding situations where the

stimuli are likely to be encountered. Dissociation and psychogenic amnesia are

cognitive strategies by which individuals with post traumatic stress disorder

cut off the conscious experience of trauma-based memories and feelings. Lastly,

the individual may separate the cognitive aspects from the emotional aspects of

psychological experience and perceive only the former. This type of psychic

numbing serves as an emotional anesthesia that makes it extremely difficult for

people with post traumatic stress disorder to participate in meaningful

interpersonal relationships. Thus, a battered woman suffering from post

traumatic stress disorder may avoid her batterer and repress trauma-based

feelings and emotions. The hyper arousal category symptoms closely resemble

those seen in panic and generalized anxiety disorders. Although symptoms such as

insomnia and irritability are generic anxiety symptoms, hyper vigilance and

startle are unique to post traumatic stress disorder. The hyper vigilance

symptom may become so intense in individuals suffering from post traumatic

stress disorder that it appears as if they are paranoid. A careful reading of

post traumatic stress disorder symptoms and diagnostic criteria indicates that

Dr. Walker’s classical theory of battered women’s syndrome is contained within.

For instance, both theories require that the victim be exposed to a traumatic

event. In Dr. Walker’s theory, she describes the traumatic event as a cycle of

violence. The post traumatic stress disorder theory, on the other hand, only

requires that the event be markedly distressing to almost everyone. Thus, the

cycle of violence described by Dr. Walker is considered a traumatic stressor for

the purposes of diagnosing post traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, like

the classical theory of battered women’s syndrome, the theory of post traumatic

stress disorder recognizes that an individual may become helpless after exposure

to a traumatic event. Although the post traumatic stress disorder theory seems

to incorporate Dr. Walker’s theory, it is more inclusive in that it recognizes

that different individuals may have different reactions to traumatic events and

does not rely heavily on the theory of learned helplessness to explain why

battered women stay with their abusers. There are several methods a professional

can utilize to treat individuals suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

The most successful treatments are those that they administer immediately after

the traumatic event. Experts commonly call this type of treatment critical

incident stress debriefing. Although this type of treatment is effective in

halting the development of post traumatic stress disorder, the cyclical nature

and gradual escalation of violence in domestic abuse situations make critical

incident stress debriefing an unlikely therapy for battered women. The second

type of treatment is administered after post traumatic stress disorder has

developed and is less effective than critical incident stress debriefing. This

type of treatment may consist of psychodynamic psychotherapy, behavioral

therapy, pharmacotherapy and group therapy. The most effective

post-manifestation treatment for battered women is group therapy. In a group

therapy session, battered women can discuss traumatic memories, post traumatic

stress disorder symptoms and functional deficits with others who have had

similar experiences. By discussing their experiences and symptoms, the women

form a common bond and release repressed memories, feelings and emotions. To

summarize, many experts regard battered women’s syndrome as a subcategory of

post traumatic stress disorder. The diagnostic criteria for post traumatic

stress disorder include a history of exposure to a traumatic event and symptoms

from each of three symptom clusters: intrusive recollections, avoidant/numbing

symptoms and hyper arousal symptoms. After exposure to a traumatic event,

defined by the DSM-IV as one that is markedly distressing to almost everyone, an

individual suffering from post traumatic stress disorder may suffer intrusive

recollections, which consist of daytime fantasies, traumatic nightmares and

flashbacks. The individual may also try to avoid stimuli that remind him/her of

the traumatic event and/or develop symptoms associated with generic anxiety

disorders. Critical incident stress debriefing, psychodynamic psychotherapy,

behavioral therapy, pharmacotherapy and group therapy are all recognized as

effective treatments for post traumatic stress disorder. IV. Conclusion Although

there are many different theories of battered women’s syndrome, most are all

variations or hybrids of the three main theories outlined above. A sound

understanding of Dr. Walker’s classical battered women’s syndrome theory,

Gondolf and Fisher’s survivor theory of battered women’s syndrome and the post

traumatic stress disorder theory, will permit the reader to identify the origins

and essential elements of these various hybrids and provide them with a better

understanding of the plight of the battered woman. Given the prevalence of

domestic abuse in our society, it is important to realize that the battered

woman does not like abuse or is responsible for her victimization. The three

theories discussed above all offer rationale explanations for why a battered

women often stays with her abuser and explore the psychological harm caused by

abuse while discounting the popular perception that battered women must enjoy

the abuse.