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Domestic Violence: Spousal Abuse In The United States

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Spousal Abuse
People often turn away from issues that do not affect them, but this only lets the issue grow further until there is nothing left to do but deal with it. This could be why domestic violence has been taking place for centuries now. One issue that comes with domestic violence is spousal abuse- a problem that only seems to be getting worse, with ten million victims being beaten by an intimate partner each year (“Domestic Violence”). Although spousal abuse seems to be an ongoing issue in the United States, efforts are being made at both national and local levels to suppress the violence. In order to better understand spousal abuse, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the issue. Spousal abuse can be defined as when a person …show more content…

Victims of spousal abuse not only have an immediate exposure to physical danger, but many lasting mental effects as a response. For instance, many individuals suffering from abuse by an intimate partner experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by traumatic, uncontrollable thoughts about the incident. Additionally, depression remains as the most common symptom in victims. As much as 60% of abused women claimed they felt sad or depressed. In the same way, dissociation is commonly linked with spousal abuse. Dissociation causes victims to feel “checked out” or impairs one’s ability to function in the real world (Black). To summarize, there are many negative impacts left onto the individuals facing spousal abuse, not to mention the effects these could leave on society as …show more content…

To begin with, Congress introduced the Violence Against Women Act, which reauthorized and improved lifesaving services for all victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking when it was signed into a bill in 2013. On the positive side, the act has brought as much as a 51% increase in reporting domestic violence by women and a 37% increase in reporting by men. On the negative side, when new legislations come into power, the bill is often voted against by Republicans with the idea that funding domestic violence is government waste. Locally, shelters such as the Dunn House are offered to protect women and children escaping from domestic or sexual abuse, stalking, trafficking and date violence (“Dunn House

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