Relationships based on mutual respect, sharing, and caring are more healthy and satisfying. Many of the physical injuries sustained by women seem to cause medical difficulties as women grow older. Arthritis, hypertension and heart disease have been caused or aggravated by domestic violence that occurred early in their adult lives. Emotional and psychological abuse inflicted by batterers may be just as expensive to treat as physical injury. Battered women lose their jobs because of absenteeism due to illness as a result of the violence.
Absences occasioned by court appearances also jeopardize women's livelihood.
Moving is costly and can interfere with continuity of employment. First, the batterer isolates them from family and friends. Then, they become embarrassed by the abuse inflicted upon them and withdraw from friends to avoid embarrassment. Some battered women lose their religious communities after separating from abusers because religious doctrine prohibits divorce.