Domestic Violence Amid the Pandemic
Updated: Oct 18, 2021
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.