Understanding Domestic Violence ______________________________________________________________
• Threat of physical or sexual violence (e.g., “I’ll kill you;” “I’ll beat you up if you don’t have sex with me;” brandishing a weapon)—use of words, gestures, or weapons to communicate the intent to cause death, disability, injury, or physical harm; threats also include the use of words, gestures, or weapons to communicate the intent to compel a person to engage in sex acts or sexual contact when the person is either unwilling or unable to consent • Control of reproductive or sexual health (e.g., refusal to use birth control; coerced pregnancy terminations) • Exploitation of victim’s vulnerability (e.g., immigration status, disability, undisclosed sexual orientation) • Exploitation of perpetrator’s vulnerability (e.g., perpetrator’s use of real or perceived disability or immigration status to control a victim’s choices or limit a victim’s options). For example, telling a victim, “If you call the police, I could be deported.” • Gaslighting (i.e., “mind games”): presenting false information to the victim with the intent of making them doubt their own memory and perception. The most recent IPV definitions expert panel discussed how to best define the continuum of psychological aggression and how to best delineate the point at which psychological aggression becomes psychological abuse. One suggestion was to define psychological abuse as a pattern of psychologically aggressive acts that result in a negative impact upon the victim. However, the panel was not able to decide how to define a pattern of psychologically aggressive acts and how to define the impact or set of impacts that suggest psychological abuse (Breiding et al., 2015, p. 27). • Pattern of Violence: The way that violence is distributed over time in terms of frequency, severity, or type of violent episode (i.e., physical violence, sexual violence, stalking, and/or psychological aggression). • Inpatient: Treatment by a physician or other healthcare professional related to the physical health of the victim who has been admitted to a hospital. • Outpatient: Treatment by a physician or other healthcare professional related to the physical health of the victim who has not been admitted to a hospital or other healthcare institution; This includes treatment in an emergency department. • Mental Health Care: Includes individual or group
Mental health care excludes substance abuse treatment. It includes pastoral counseling if such counseling is specifically related to the mental health of the victim. • Physical Injury: Any physical harm, including death, occurring to the body resulting from exposure to thermal, mechanical, electrical, or chemical energy interacting with the body in amounts or rates that exceed the threshold of physiological tolerance, or from the absence of such essentials as oxygen or heat. Examples of physical injury include bruises, cuts, burns, broken bones, and head injuries. • Psychological Functioning: The intellectual, developmental, emotional, behavioral, or social role functioning of the victim. Changes in psychological functioning can be either temporary (i.e., persisting for 180 days or less), intermittent, or chronic (i.e., likely to be of an extended and continuous duration persisting for a period greater than 180 days). Examples of changes in psychological functioning include increases in or development of anxiety, depression, insomnia, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, dis- sociation, inattention, memory impairment, self-medication, self-mutilation, sexual dysfunction, hypersexuality, and attempted or completed suicide. • Sexual Trafficking: The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act. In order for a situation to be considered trafficking, it must have at least one of the elements within each of the three cri- teria of process, means, and goal. If one condition from each criterion is met, the result is trafficking. For adults, victim consent is irrelevant if one of the means is employed. For chil- dren, consent is irrelevant with or without the means category. ‒ Process: Recruitment, transportation, transferring, harboring, or receiving
Means: Threat, coercion, abduction, fraud, deceit, deception, or abuse of power Goal: Prostitution, pornography, violence/ sexual exploitation, or involuntary sexual servitude.
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An example in the context of intimate partner violence includes a perpetrator forcing his wife or girlfriend into com- mercial sex work. Healthcare Consideration Healthcare providers are often a first point of call for women and are among those professionals they are most likely to trust with a disclosure. An empathetic, well ‐ trained provider can validate women's experiences and help women access the support they need, often by connecting them with specialized services.
care by a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or other counselor related to the mental health of the victim. It may involve inpatient or outpatient treatment.
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