Domestic Abuse and Divorce

Domestic abuse can occur in many forms and many times leads to divorce. This can be caused from abuse inflicted on one spouse to another, possibly in retaliation, or abuse towards a child or children in the family. Abuse itself takes many forms, and is sometimes unnoticed by the target and even by the abuser. The most common tactics used by abusers are dominance, humiliation, isolation, threats, intimidation and denial or blame.

Physical and Mental Abuse

These can both occur even without the intent of the abuser. If the target does not express discontent with certain physical contact, the abuser will not assume they are doing anything wrong. When physical abuse is continued without any intentional mental abuse, the mental anguish can form from the continued physical trauma.

Any form of abuse will usually fall into a common cycle. The initial abuse, and is followed by guilt. The abuser will feel guilty for their misbehavior, and attempt to act normally. As they act normally, abusers do not lose sight of what brought cause for the initial abuse, and these problems build up as they continue normally. Abusers will then begin to fantasize how to account for these wrongs they see their target making. Once they cannot act normally any longer, they will lash out again into their abusive tactics, only to begin the cycle again.

Child Abuse

Child abuse is often the most difficult to deal with because the targets are only children. They often do not know precisely what is right from wrong, and do not always have the means to account for things they feel to be wrong. Furthermore, abuses do not only occur from “bad” parents. Improper tactics for raising children can sometimes be abusive, and may hurt the child’s emotional contentment in the end. In addition, serious abuse may scar a child’s future permanently, making child abuse one of the most serious problems in our society.

Spousal Abuse and Divorce

Any form of abuse will generally be considered grounds for divorce in any state. The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides service to all 50 states. Often bring out economic or financial abuse. This is a subtle form of emotional abuse that results from one spouse taking full control of the family’s finances. This leads to abusive actions such as a restricted allowance or sabotaging the spouse’s job to prevent them from earning their own money.

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