Domestic Violence Amid the Pandemic

Domestic violence occurs when a partner in an intimate relationship

attempts to maintain power and control over the other partner through

avenues such as physical and sexual violence, intimidation, isolation from

healthy social supports, emotional and verbal abuse, financial abuse, and

use of children, among others.

We know that domestic violence is common; according to the Center for

Disease Control (CDC), it affects millions of people in the United States each

year. About 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men have experienced physical

violence, sexual violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner within their

lifetime. Domestic violence is not limited to heterosexual relationships; in

fact, those in the LGBTQ+ community experience the same, if not higher,

rates of domestic violence than the heterosexual community and present

with distinctive barriers.

Domestic violence can have both immediate and lasting impacts on the

survivor such as physical injury, chronic physical health issues, and death.

Many survivors often experience depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and

self-worth, and Post-Traumatic-Stress symptoms that can be incapacitating

for the survivor. On a larger scale, the Center for Disease Control (CDC)

estimates that the lifetime economic costs of domestic violence (through

medical care, criminal justice services, etc.) is $3.6 trillion.