Psychological Abuse: Implications for Adjustment and Commitment to Leave Violent Partners

“Adding an additional layer of complexity, early research on IPV focused on physical violence perpetration towards a partner at the expense of alternative forms PSYCHOTRAUMATOLOGY EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF European Journal of Psychotraumatology 2014.”

“Such behavior includes physical violence and the continued threat of such violence, but it also includes other forms of abuse—psychological (Arias & Pape, 1999; Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, & Polek, 1990; Tolman, 1992), sexual (Bergen, 1996; Finkelhor & Yllo, 1985; Russell, 1990), and…”

“Studies suggest that the clienttherapist problem-solving activities that involve safety planning are helpful for victims of partner violence (e.g., Arias & Pape, 1999), not only because they increase her safety but also because the process itself—by reducing feelings of helplessness and being…”

“Arias and Pape (1999) found that physical violence was not related to PTSD symptomatology among women residing”

“In addition, psychological aggression may exacerbate the effects of physical aggression (Arias & Pape, 2001).”

“Research on recovery outcomes is encouraging and important, but fails to fully take into account the process and outcome of resilience for women in the aftermath of domestic violence.”

“The observation that psychological aggression was significantly related to depressive symptoms is consistent with previous literature (Arias and Pape, 1999; Street and Arias, 2001), and is not surprising given its probable effect on an individual’s sense of self, particularly beliefs regarding self-esteem, competence,…”

“…O’Leary, & Schlee, 1999; Coker et al., 2002; Zlotnick, Kohn, Peterson, & Pearlstein, 1998), anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology (Arias & Pape, 1999; Cascardi et al., 1999), substance abuse (e.g., Coker et al., 2002; Collins, Kroutil, Roland, & MooreGurrera, 1997; Lown & Vega,…”

“The consequences of marital violence are enormous in terms of chronic and acute health problems, including miscarriage, depressive symptomatology (4-6), posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology (4,7,8), substance abuse (9), suicide (10), and even spousal homicide (9,11,12).”

“Some forms of coping can therefore be understood as better or more successful than others (Arias and Pape, 1999; Monat and Lazarus, 1991).”

“These studies have also been cited as a basis for encouraging victims of IPV to engage in more frequent problem-focused coping (Arias & Pape, 1999), not only to promote their safety, obviously paramount, but also to improve their mental health.”

“…violence literature, it is now widely accepted that psychological abuse among partners commonly occurs in the absence of violence and adversely affects victims as much or more than physical abuse (Arias & Pape, 1999; Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, & Polek, 1990; Sackett & Saunders, 1999).”

“Psychological aggression victimization correlates with other mental and physical health variables, including low selfesteem, posttraumatic stress disorder, and chronic disease (Arias & Pape, 1999; Coker et al., 2002; Sackett & Saunders, 1999).”

“This is consistent with the literature regarding the impact of partner violence victimization on women who are battered (e.g., Arias & Pape, 1999; Cascardi et al., 1992; Cascardi et al., 1999; Coker et al., 2002; Golding, 1999; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000; Zlotnick et al., 1998).”

“” Although Arias and Pape (1999) reported that psychological aggression was a significant predictor of PTSD symptoms, which in turn were related to a high level of distress, they warned that it may be premature to conclude that physical victimization will not account for PTSD symptoms. Street and Arias (2001) conclude…”

“Because psychological abuse is often associated with negative sequelae for women in marital or cohabiting relationships (Arias & Pape, 1999; Follingstad et al., 1990; Marshall, 1996), it seems important to study the sequelae among dating women as well as men.”

“…abuse significantly predicted post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology in battered women, even after controlling for physical violence (Arias & Pape, 1999), and women in abusive relationships have identified psychological abuse as their primary source of distress (Vitanza et al.,…”

“These results indicate that psychological IPV both alone and concomitant with physical IPV have similar consequences on women’s mental health, as we and other researchers have previously reported [13,14,33-35].”

“…broad reaching impact on functioning, it is not surprising that the experience of traumatic stress has been shown to affect cognitive appraisals, cognitive schemas, symptom expression, and resolution, as well as behavioral action (Arias & Pape, 1999; Dutton, 1995; Herman, 1992, 1995; Walker, 1991).”

“…that the effects of psychological abuse on battered women’s decisions to terminate relationships were significant after controlling for the effects of physical abuse, whereas physical abuse, controlling for psychological abuse, demonstrated no association with stay/leave (Arias & Pape, 1999).”

“These results are consistent with Arias and Pape’s (1999) findings.”

“Severe cases may resemble psychological abuse, which can be as damaging as physical abuse, causing significant distress and even trauma [4, 10, 66, 82].”

“Yet, despite evidence that psychological maltreatment may have more detrimental effects than physical maltreatment (Aguilar & Nightingale, 1994; Arias & Pape, 1999; Follingstad et al., 1990; Fortin & Chamberland, 1995; Hoglund & Nicholas, 1995), there has been limited research in this area.”

“Other studies have found that psychological abuse contributes to mental health problems above the effects of physical abuse on mental health (Arias & Pape, 1999; Sackett & Saunders, 1999).”

“Thus, a woman’s subjective experience of threat and danger from the perpetrator is a vital asset in linking her to supportive services, particularly those more directly able to augment her safety (Arias & Pape, 2001).”

“In addition, women’s psychological distress is more strongly related to the frequency of experiencing psychological aggression than physical aggression (Arias & Pape, 1999; Sackett & Saunders, 1999; Taft, Murphy, King, Dedeyn, & Musser, 2005).”

“For some time, it has been shown that psychological abuse has as strong or stronger relationship to PTSD and depression than does physical abuse (Arias & Pape, 1999; Dutton, Goodman, & Bennett, 1999; O’Leary & Jouriles, 1994; Pico-Alfonso, 2005).”

“…unmeasured or is viewed as less serious in large surveys, has as high a bivariate relationship with women’s mental health as physical or sexual abuse within the relationship, converging with other recent findings (Arias & Pape, 1999; Pico-Alfonso, 2005; Street & Arias, 2001; Taft et al., 2005).”

“In a study of 68 sheltered battered women, Arias and Pape (1999) observed that psychological abuse, but not physical abuse, was a significant predictor of PTSD symptomatology.”

“Previous studies have established the psychometric properties of the PMWI (Arias & Pape, 1999; Dutton & Hemphill, 1992; Tolman, 1989).”

“For example, Arias and Pape (1999) found psychological abuse, and not physical abuse, to be associated with PTSD symptoms among battered women in shelters.”

“…findings, coupled with emerging literature on the relative negative contributions of psychological IPV to mental, physical, and reproductive health (Arias & Pape, 1999; Coker et al., 2002; Kimerling et al., 2007; Sullivan et al., 2009), underscore the importance of attending to psychological IPV…”

“Given the mounting evidence that emotional aggression can lead to devastating consequences (Arias & Pape, 1999; Follingstad et al., 1990; Sackett & Saunders, 1999), we expected that emotionally aggressive acts would be perceived to be more unacceptable, negative, blameworthy, and abusive compared…”

“Interventions that promote problem-focused coping (Arias & Pape, 1999) and social support coping (Kocot & Goodman, 2003) enhance self-efficacy and lead to more positive adjustment.”

“…abuse were included, because among samples of battered women, this form of abuse has been described as more emotionally damaging than physical abuse (Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, & Polek, 1990) and more strongly associated with mental health problems than physical abuse (Arias & Pape, 1999).”

“In a study of the effect of psychological abuse on stay/leave decisions, Arias and Pape (1999) found that psychological abuse was a significant predictor of intentions to leave an abusive relationship even after controlling for the effects of physical abuse.”

“Consistent with this hypothesis, correlational and prospective studies suggest that PTSD symptoms moderate the relationship between abuse and revictimization in the form of decisions to remain with an abusive partner (Arias & Pape, 1999) and in new episodes of abuse (Sandberg et al. 1999).”

“…abuse have been found to be associated with even poorer emotional adjustment and physical health among women than experiences of physical abuse (Aguilar & Nightingale, 1994; Arias & Pape, 1999; Coker et al., 2000; Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, & Polek, 1990; Sackett & Saunders, 1999).”

“…School of Nursing, UCSF, 2 Koret Way, Box 0606, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA Email: Janice.humphreys@nursing.ucsf.edu emotional IPV on women’s health (Arias & Pape, 1999; Coker, Smith, Bethea, King, & McKeown, 2000; Dutton, Goodman, & Bennett, 1999; Wijma, Samelius, Wingren, & Wijma, 2007).”

“Other studies have suggested that psychological aggression is inversely related to relationship satisfaction and that women experiencing severe emotional abuse are more likely to seek an end to their relationship (Arias & Pape, 1999; Brown, O’Leary, & Feldbau, 1997; Lawrence & Bradbury, 1995).”

“However, psychological abuse is extremely harmful and creates substantial barriers for women regarding their self-worth and self-efficacy (Arias & Pape, 1999; Marshall, 1999; Sackett & Saunders, 1999).”

“Experience of these problems appears to be correlated with the use of avoidant and emotion-focused coping techniques such as dissociation or the repression of memories and emotions (Arias & Pape, 1999; Herman, 1992).”

“…emotional focused, avoidant or disengaged coping strategies, such as the use of denial, behavioral distractions, cognitive distortions, and wishful thinking, have been correlated with more PTSD symptomology (Arias & Pape, 1999; Krause et al., 2008), anxiety, and depression (Calvete et al., 2008).”

“…coping has been linked to greater levels of PTSD symptoms in numerous populations, including individuals with a history of interpersonal violence (Arias & Pape, 1999), war veterans (Sutker, Davis, Uddo, & Ditta, 1995), survivors of motor vehicle accidents (Bryant & Harvey, 1995), and victims of…”

“In examining the relation between IPV and mental health, previous studies have considered different (a) types of abuse (Arias & Pape, 1999), (b) environmental and contextual factors (Coker, Watkins, Smith, & Brandt, 2003), or (c) intrapersonal variables (Clements & Sawhney, 2000).”

“Problem-focused coping (e.g., active planning and help seeking) has often been affiliated with fewer mental health problems (Arias & Pape, 1999; Mitchell & Hodson, 1983).”

“…2004; Stith et al. 2004) and between psychological abuse and numerous deleterious outcomes, including PTSD, depression, drug use, low self-esteem, and poor physical health, even after accounting for the effects of physical abuse (Arias 1999; Arias and Pape 1999; Katz and Arias 1999; Kelly 2004).”

“…(O’Leary 1999), and results in many psychological problems, including depression, anxiety, low self esteem, and post traumatic stress disorder (Arias and Pape 1999; Sackett and Saunders 1999), it is seen as less severe (Capezza and Arriaga 2008a, b), and is often N. M. Capezza (*) :X. B.…”

“As others have found (Arias & Pape, 1999; Dutton et al., 1999; Street & Arias, 2001), psychological abuse was a stronger unique correlate of PTSD symptoms than was physical abuse at baseline.”

“Previous studies have examined the types of abuse (Arias and Pape 1999), environmental factors (Coker et al.”

“…stress sheds light on the differential impacts of experiencing different types of IPV and is consistent with previous findings that psychological IPV may have a greater impact on women’s emotional well-being than physical IPV (Arias and Pape 1999; Dutton et al. 1999; Lawrence et al. 2009).”

“These contents are highly consistent with the cognitive contents found among victims of IPV in several studies (Arias & Pape, 1999; Dutton, 1992).”

“Studies have primarily focused on physical and sexual violence although some studies have addressed psychological violence (Arias & Pape, 1999; Blasco-Ros, Sánchez-Lorente, & Martínez, 2010; Coker et al., 2002; Follingstad, 2009; Jordan, Campbell, & Follingstad, 2010; Katz & Arias, 1999; Lawrence,…”

“…sexual violence (Crowell & Burgess, 1996; Dutton et al., 1999; Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, & Polek, 1990), can undermine feelings of self-worth and efficacy (Marshall, 1999), and may have a greater effect on mental health than physical abuse (Arias & Pape, 1999; Sackett & Saunders, 1999).”

“More generally, partner maltreatment, including verbal abuse, could jeopardize women’s emotional health by increasing symptoms of traumatic stress (Arias & Pape, 1999; Vitanza, Vogel, & Marshall, 1995) and depression (Katz & Arias, 1999; Vitanza et al., 1995).”

“Emotion-focused coping has been found to be negatively related to depression (Mitchell & Hodson, 1983) and positively related to posttraumatic symptoms (Arias & Pope, 1999).”

“Indeed, on a variety of clinical measures comparing IPV impact, battered women fare significantly worse from exposure to emotional abuse and control than they do to physical assault, for example, in lowered-self esteem (Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, & Polek, 1990) and PTSD (Arias & Pape, 2001).”

“Our findings support studies that indicate that emotional abuse can be as harmful as physical abuse (Arias & Pape, 2001; Sackett & Saunders, 1999).”