Cause and Effect Essay: Domestic Violence

Cases of domestic violence are increasing, which involve the abuse of individuals physically, psychologically, emotionally, or sexually within a relationship or marriage. The causes and effects of domestic violence vary, providing adverse impacts to a victim. Besides, various effects of domestic violence arise as a result. Domestic violence cases are on the surge for women though there are some cases where women/men abuse men. Domestic violence consists of the abuser and the victim. The abuser is often with a belief of having entitlement or the presence of justification for their actions. Earlier in history, some forms of domestic violence, including beating up your wife, were legal under the law. The changes over the century deem any form of domestic violence as a crime against the law. In this context, our focus is on both causes and effects of domestic violence.

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Suffering from mental illness, a neglect/abuse history during childhood, together with alcohol and drug intoxication, are some causes of domestic violence. Suffering from mental illness is a cause of mental illness in that when an individual is depressed or suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), one can abuse their partner physically, mentally, or emotionally as a way to release stress and feel better over themselves (Rahnavardi et al., p. 3637-3642). Also, when an adult had an abusive childhood or had guardians who neglected him/her while growing up, they tend to copy the experience in their childhood and bring it up in their relationship/marriage. In case one had an abusive childhood where the father abused the mother or vice versa, the individual can also abuse his/her partner as a result (Idris et al., p. 199-207. Violence highly associates with drugs and alcohol abuse/intoxication. Most married addicts violate their partner physically and emotionally due to their inability to control their violent impulses and later regret their actions.

Amid the causes of domestic violence, many adverse effects come up as a result. Domestic violence can cause vast effects in a family to victims directly and indirectly. That is, domestic violence cases can affect the children and the mother/father (Idris et al., p. 199-207). The development of mental health conditions, suicidal thoughts, heart disease issues, death of individuals, and low self-esteem issues are some of the effects of domestic violence. Mental health issues as effects of domestic violence develop and surge. Some of the issues include depression, stress, anxiety, PTSD, Bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Primarily, physical, mental and psychological abuse at home result in the development of mental issues in children and mother/father depending on the victims (Rakovec-Felser et al., 1-10). Besides, in most cases, when a spouse consistently abuses the partner, he/she can develop suicidal thoughts opting to take out her life as a way of seizing her misery or due to feeling unworthy and unappreciated. Mostly, mental and emotional abuse adversely affects an individual, influencing them to commit suicide.

Additionally, there is an increase in cases of dead individuals who were victims of domestic violence. When abusers hurt their victims physically, some hurt people to the extent of causing their death (Forke et al., 1-6). Most individuals kill their victims accidentally due to their inability to control their emotions, which happens drastically with drug and alcohol addicts. In other circumstances, due to stressful events and poor communication leading to domestic violence, one can abuse their spouse/partner physically through beating them up or chocking them to death (Idris et al., p. 199-207). Low self-esteem is another impact of being a domestic violence victim, which can emancipate in the abused partner and in children. When most partners abuse their partner physically and emotionally, they often extend the abuse by forcing their children to watch the events. As a result, the children grow up scared, in fear, and without any confidence in themselves. The partner also develops a feeling of not being enough and unworthy.

In summary, domestic violence cases are increasing severely. The causes of domestic violence are often intertwined with the effects. Some causes of domestic violence include mental illness, a neglect/abuse history during childhood, together with alcohol, and addiction to drugs. Heart disease issues, the development of mental health conditions, suicidal thoughts, death of individuals, and low self-esteem issues are effects that arise in victims due to domestic violence. Therefore, due to the adverse effects and causes associated with domestic violence, there is a need for the public, institutions, and governments to intervene and educate individuals about domestic violence. Most people stay with abusive partners due to the development of beliefs that their situation is the best their life offers. Besides, the implementation of more strict laws on abusers while informing people about their rights can help reduce cases of domestic violence.

Work Cited

Forke, Christine M., et al. "Intergenerational effects of witnessing domestic violence: Health of the witnesses and their children." Preventive medicine reports 15 (2019): 100942: 1-6.

Idris, Syazliana Astrah Mohd, et al. "Causes and effects of domestic violence: a conceptual model on the performance at work." International Journal for Studies on Children, Women, Elderly and Disabled 4 (2018): 199-207.

Rakovec-Felser, Zlatka. "Domestic violence and abuse in an intimate relationship from a public health perspective." Health Psychology Research , 2.3 (2014): 1-10.

Rahnavardi, Mona, et al. "Investigating types and causes of domestic violence against women and identifying strategies to deal with it from the perspective of victims." Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology 10.10 (2017): 3637-3642.