The 7 sequelae of victims of gender violence

Much has been debated about gender violence in recent days on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, held on November 25.

Through this article we want to transmit in a simple way some of the psychological consequences suffered by victims of gender violence, without daring to affirm that there is a psychological profile of a woman who suffers abuse, but taking into account that there are a series of sequelae or psychological consequences that are repeated in many of the women who have suffered this violence.

Women victims of gender violence suffer specific damages from the situation of abuse, which usually appear on a regular basis in all victims, but we must highlight the heterogeneity of the people and emphasize that each situation involves different nuances and, therefore, Therefore, the sequelae that we are going to explain below will not appear in all victims with the same intensity or the same intensity. way.

The 4 types of sequelae in victims of gender violence

We are going to classify the consequences suffered by victims of gender violence into four blocks:

• Emotional and affective sequelae: are those related to the victim's self-esteem, her emotions and feelings.
• Cognitive sequelae: they tend to highlight concentration problems, memory loss, difficulty thinking about the future and planning or imagining the future, confusion, etc.
• Behavioral sequelae: reduction of social interaction behaviors (giving and receiving), difficulties to communicate, problems when negotiating, and so on.
• Physical sequelae: bruises and injuries, physical exhaustion, general pain in the body, and so on.

However, in this article we are going to dedicate ourselves to explaining the emotional and affective consequences suffered by women who are victims of sexist violence, since they are often the most difficult to detect and the ones that represent one of the many fundamental intervention targets for treatment psychological.

Emotional and affective sequelae in victims of gender violence

Although there may be multiple symptoms at a psychological-affective level, we are going to focus on the 7 most frequent emotional sequelae.

1. Low self-esteem, identity problems, and distorted self-image

their vision of themselves is totally distorted towards the negative. It is frequent that they doubt their own abilities and possibilities, they refer that they are a totally different person from the one they were at the beginning of the toxic relationship. In general, they perceive themselves without resources, helpless and without the necessary skills to take responsibility for their lives. They minimize your abilities and skills, and maximize your chances of being wrong and "failing."

They find it difficult to trust their intuition (let's think that for a while they have been made to doubt themselves permanently, thinking that they are not right or that what they think or say is absurd and that they are wrong), so they can come to depend a lot on external opinions.

2. Feelings of guilt and a lot of fear

These feelings arise as a result of the messages of constant blame they have received from the aggressor. They feel guilty about everything, even though it apparently has nothing to do with them. They think that they are not good as a person (if they have children, they may think that they are a bad mother). The guilt they feel often paralyzes them and does not allow them to look forward and move forward. As a result of the threats of the aggressor they develop constant tension, hypervigilance and fear.

3. Emotional isolation

As a result of the social isolation caused by the aggressor, the victim feels that she is totally alone and that no one can understand what is happening to her. They believe that they cannot trust anyone and that therefore no one can help them. At the same time, they increasingly depend on the aggressor. They may also come to believe that what they are experiencing only happens to them and that no one would understand them.

4. Difficulty recognizing and expressing emotions

Due to the situation of absolute control on the part of the aggressor, there is a denial of the victim's own feelings and emotions. They think that her feelings are unimportant, that they are exaggerating, or that they are wrong (they distrust her own feelings). In this way, they often choose to hide their emotions from her.

They can often show misdirected anger: let's think that the victim has to be able to control all of her emotions so as not to "irritate" the aggressor. This creates a perfect breeding ground for later women to express her feelings in a more uncontrolled way. Sometimes the contained anger is directed against themselves.

5. Post-traumatic stress disorder or related symptoms

These women are living or have lived through very difficult and stressful situations, recurrent trauma in many cases, which is why typical PTSD symptoms may arise (anxiety, nightmares, depression, hypervigilance, emotional dullness, irritability, suicidal thoughts, insomnia, exaggerated emotional responses…).

6. Feelings of having betrayed the aggressor

For having denounced, for separating or for having explained it to another person. They feel like they are betraying their partner. This would be one of the elements that would lead many women victims of gender violence to withdraw their complaints. They feel guilty for speaking ill of him, even though they are ultimately explaining what happened. In addition, women who have been victims of gender violence for a long time can come to integrate ideas and messages that they have received from the aggressor. They end up becoming what the assailant wants her to be.

7. Attachment disorders

Difficulty trusting others is common, they feel that they are not worthy of being loved or respected, they keep their distance from the environment for fear of suffering again, they perceive the environment as a threat ...

Above all, affective ambivalence arises: they cannot give themselves "the luxury" of giving themselves completely genuinely and open to people who show them affection, since in the past they did and the consequences were dire. In some way they try to protect against future situations of violence. This situation of ambivalence also occurs with the aggressor, since in one of the parts of the cycle of violence the aggressor asks them for forgiveness (honeymoon: they feel affection towards him and perceive him as someone who is worthy of being loved) and in the following phases the phases of accumulation of tension and explosion return (they feel hatred towards he).

Bibliographic references:

• Lorente Acosta, Miguel. (2009). My husband beats me the normal thing: aggression against the wife. Facts and myths. Planet: Barcelona.

• Echeburúa, E., and De Corral, P. (1998). Family violence manual. XXI century of Spain: Madrid.

• Official College of Psychology of Gipuzkoa (2016). Manual of Psychological Attention to victims of sexist abuse.