Psychological factors can help or hinder in deciding to leave abusive relationships.
Within two weeks of their arrival at the shelter, study participants completed self-report surveys on psychological and physical abuse experiences, coping styles and psychological well being including the presence of PTSD symptoms. After study participants wrote brief narratives about the most recent episode of abuse they had experienced, they were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 7 their sense of control over the violence and the likelihood they would leave their abusive partners. Statistical techniques were applied to analyze participants' responses. Eighty-eight percent of study participants had PTSD symptom scores at or above clinical levels. Measures also revealed that study participants had survived frequent episodes of psychological and severe physical abuse.