Domestic Violence

The Cycle of Violence

Domestic violence is rarely an isolated incident, and it involves a pattern of behavior, commonly referred to as the “cycle of violence.” The cycle of violence, defined first by Dr. Lenore Walker, occurs in three repeating stages: tension-building, acute battery, and relief. During the tension-building stage, the abuser engages in multiple “minor” incidents of control and abuse against the victim. Commonly, the abuser will find fault with the victim and abuse the victim verbally, emotionally, or physically. The victim typically acquiesces to the abuser in hope of appeasing the abuser and preventing the abuser's anger and the abuse from escalating into an acute battery incident. The victim may engage in denial, excusing the abuser's anger and blaming it on any external factor apart from the abuser; the victim may justify the abuser's conduct by attributing it to a difficult day at work, stress, or often, the victim's own behavior.

The tension-building stage culminates in the acute battery phase, an episode more severe than any incident during the previous stage that usually results in severe physical and emotional injury to the victim as well as emotional injury to the children who might witness the abuse. The acute battery stage may signify a breaking point for both parties. The abuse has reached the limits of his or her desire to control and dominate, and the victim has reached the limit of his or her ability to cope with the fear. The victim may have grown so tired of the constant stress and terror of the tension-building stage that he or she accepts the inevitability of the battery, however violent and severe. The victim believes there is nothing that he or she can do to prevent it and accepts that he or she must endure it. Even if the abuser recognizes that he or she has lost control, the abuser nevertheless blames the victim or some other circumstance for the incident. It is most often in the acute battery phase that the victim may finally seek help from third parties.

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