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Battered woman syndrome

Battered woman syndrome (BWS) is a mental disorder that develops in victims of domestic violence as a result of serious, long-term abuse. BWS is dangerous primarily because it can lead to what some scholars say is “learned helplessness” – or psychological paralysis – where the victim becomes so depressed, defeated, and passive that she believes she is incapable of leaving the abusive situation.

These repeated assaults (battering) begin to change how a woman thinks about herself and life leading to a state of learned helplessness – wherein a wife believes that no matter what she does, the battering will not stop. Women suffering from battered woman syndrome often believe that the abuse is their fault and that they deserve to be assaulted. This is never true and help for battered women is available.

While the term “battered woman syndrome” refers to women, it’s also possible for men to be in a similar situation and suffer the same effects. For the purposes of this article, the victim is considered to be female while the abuser is considered to be male but this is not always the case. People in same sex relationships can also suffer from battered woman, or battered spouse, syndrome.

Profile of Someone Suffering from Battered Wife Syndrome

Those who suffer from battered wife syndrome also share common traits. Like batterers, battered wives often come from a history of abuse. In fact, many battered wives initially got married to escape the abuse present at home and may have been married young, very quickly and with no engagement period.

Those suffering from battered woman syndrome also tend to have a uniform response to violence including:

• Agitation and anxiety verging on panic
• Apprehension of imminent doom
• Extreme vigilance
• The inability to relax or sleep
• Nightmares of violence or danger
• Feelings of hopelessness and despair

Due to these extreme reactions to violence in the relationship, those suffering from battered woman syndrome react to any perceived danger (real or not) by pacing, increased activity, screaming and crying.

People suffering from battered woman’s syndrome often are passive and unable to act when the violence commences, possibly due to learned helplessness.

Batterers coming from abusive homes is a myth they themselves tell to earn sympathy

“I have sometimes said to a client: “If you are so in touch with your feelings from your abusive childhood, then you should know what abuse feels like. You should be able to remember how miserable it was to be cut down to nothing, to be put in fear, to be told that the abuse is your own fault. You should be less likely to abuse a woman, not more so, from having been through it.” Once I make this point, he generally stops mentioning his terrible childhood; he only wants to draw attention to it if it’s an excuse to stay the same, not if it’s a reason to change.”

– Lundy Bancroft, Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men