While the last is usually the case in developing countries, abuse has also been recorded in western societies, where women generally enjoy a higher standing than their counterparts elsewhere. Violence is not limited to physical abuse. As mentioned earlier, it can take on many forms, some so subtle it is oftentimes impossible to document them for legal purposes. One of the most potent forms is psychological abuse, which is the gradual attack against the mind of another by a perpetrator who is in constant contact with the victim. Contrary to the popular belief that psychological abuse merely engenders psychic stress, many studies show that a victim s physical well-being is actually impaired by it.
Psychological abuse is a multi-faceted phenomenon.
It could be verbal, emotional, and economic. Even physical and sexual abuse have psychological components. Most victims experience abuse repeatedly. One startling finding is that quite a lot of victims either do not know that they are being abused or refuse to acknowledge that the abuse is going on. Most of them live in a state of denial and may themselves become irritable and hostile, depressed and withdrawn.