Domestic Violence Effects on Victims

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As I promised in the previous post, today we will speak about the effects of domestic violence and those institutions responsible for the protection and assistance of victims. You can find more information on institutions and organizations in the brochure “Stop Gender Discrimination!” The brochure is available on this blog. Additional information regarding the brochure: ANES (The National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men) no longer exists and the agency website is not available anymore; to institutions and organizations from Cluj county working in the field, I would like to add the Counseling and Shelter Center for Domestic Violence Victims (Turda, str Avram Iancu, nr 12, TEL .VERDE 0800 817 171, email: centrudeconsiliere@yahoo.com) and ARTEMIS – Center of Counseling against Sexual Abuse and Violence (Cluj-Napoca, str Rene Descartes, nr 6, Tel/fax: 0040 264 598155, email: afiv-artemis@cluj.astral.ro, secretar_afiv_titkar@yahoo.com, www.artemis.com.ro.

The following describes the severe effects of domestic violence and why/how violence against women (and others) represents a serious violation of numerous fundamental human rights, among which we can mention the right to health and the right to life. Violence has traumatic effects on its victims, the trauma being “the event of the subject’s life which is defined through its intensity, the subjects’ incapacity to adequately respond, disorder and long lasting pathogen effects caused to psychological organization (…)” [Laplanche, J., Pontalis, J.B. (1994) Vocabularul Psihanalizei, București: Humanitas, p. 444).
The following list describes the severe effects of violence against women:
- mental health: depression, anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, sexual disorders, sleep and eating disorders, obsession, compulsive acts, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, suicide attempts
- physical health: harm, temporary or permanent invalidity, physical pain of different organs, headaches, asthma, colitis, alcohol or drug addictions, unhealthy behavior (smoking, unprotected sex), death
- reproductive health: unwanted pregnancy, gynecological problems, low weight of child at birth, abortion, vaginal diseases and pains, child death at birth, birth defects [accordingly to UNICEF (1999) Women in Transition. Monee Project. Regional Monitoring Report, Chapter 4]

Researchers also noted that domestic violence victims can develop disorders which “can evolve in acute disorders which hinders victim’s ability to carry out her/his daily tasks”:
- sleep disorders due to nightmares or recurrent thoughts
- memory problems, obsessive memories with the effect of making victims relive the suffered abuses (memory problems are noted to be memory loss connected with aggressive moments)
- hyper-excitability and/or idleness in behavior

- problems focusing in daily activities, lack of interest, hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder
- suicidal thoughts due to low self-esteem and pessimistic ideas
- auto-mutilation behavior (from the desire to take control of one’s own body)
- obsessive-compulsive behavior - “the victim feels obliged to commit some actions, with no opportunity to oppose”
- hot temper, explosive behavior
- dissociative disorders, losing contact with reality
- reactive sexual behavior, sexual disorders
[For further details please consult Roth, M (2003) Gen si Violenta in Magyari-Vincze, E & Mîndrut, P (ed) Gen , Societate si Cultură, Editura Fundatiei Desire, Cluj-napoca, p. 543]

The consequences of domestic violence are very severe, and in the absence of specialized help, they can easily develop further.
Health problems from domestic violence perpetuate gender stereotypes such as women being irrational, impulsive, predisposed to mental diseases – pathological femininity idea.