The incidence of violence against women in relationships is too high to be explained by mental illness. If this myth were accurate, one in every eight Canadian men could be mentally ill. Studies show that psychopathic personalities or other forms of mental illness among men who batter are rare. Men who batter have not been found to be measurably different from non-battering men except that they usually have adopted a very traditional stereotypical role, which makes it difficult for them to express their emotions. If we label abusive men as having a problem that comes from inside them personally instead of stemming from their socialization, then the weight of responsibility can be shifted from us as a society and from the batterer, and placed entirely on the man's illness.
Men abuse their partners because they are under stress.
This myth suggests that violence is a response to stress caused by role expectations, lack of resources, etc. It does not explain why the chosen target of the violence is most often an intimate partner. It also does not explain why women under stress do not attack men with the same frequency. Nor does it explain why there are many men under stress who do not beat their partners.