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Intimate partner violence is the systematic, intentional use of physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse that one person in a domestic relationship exerts over their partner in order to maintain power and control. In our society, we tend to focus on the external evidence of intimate partner violence such as the bruised lip or the fractured wrist. Likewise, most of society typically aides the survivor by tending to the physical results of intimate partner violence. With such emphasis on the physical nature of intimate partner violence, one might wonder what happens to the remnants of the survivor’s abused psychosocial self. As a society, are we adequately recognizing and supporting the survivor’s mental and social state after they escape the violence? I believe the answer is “no.” I believe we need to recognize and study how survivors positively cope and learn from their experience. In this thesis I present the individual and societal strategies currently being utilized in promoting positive psychosocial wellness for intimate partner violence survivors, both women and men. My research also assesses the negative stigmas placed on abused women and men and explains how these stigmas collectively force these women and men into emotional and social solitude, hopelessness and a general sense of personal failure. I focus on how survivors can change their negative associations of their past abuse into tools for their positive self-growth, awareness and perception. |
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