Detecting Abuse Paper
Conduct an Internet search about the murder of Yeardley Love. After researching the story, write a 500-750-word essay addressing the following.
- Assuming there was abuse occurring prior to the death of Yeardley Love, hypothesize how it may have been difficult for a counselor to assess and identify this abuse.
- Describe how a counselor’s knowledge of the abuse cycle would assist in detecting partner abuse.
Include a minimum of two scholarly references in addition to the textbook.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide
Detecting Abuse Paper
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Detecting Abuse Paper
Intimate partner violence is a form of abuse that occurs between romantic partners and is a significant issue that often leads to serious physical injuries, mental health issues, and in some cases, death. Violence among partners may be in form of verbal, physical, sexual, or psychological aggression. Cases of domestic violence are usually difficult to identify and a significant number of them are not reported to the authorities or healthcare professionals (Lloyd, 2018). The murder of Yeardley Love is an example of how intimate partner violence can result in a tragedy. The purpose of this essay is to assess the murder of Yeardley Love by hypothesizing how a counselor may have found it difficult to identify the abuse and to describe how the abuse cycle assists counselors to detect partner abuse.
Before Yeardley Love’s death, there were numerous cases where her boyfriend had shown signs of violence and even abused her and other people. Her boyfriend, George Huguely, had threatened a female officer and even attacked one of his teammates who had also been intimately involved with Love. Huguely’s alcohol abuse and violence was the reason why he had an on and off relationship with Love. Despite several cases of violence, Huguely was never reported to the authorities hence it would have been difficult to assess for abuse. Huguely also threatened Love that he would kill her but she did not report him to the authorities. The on and off nature of their relationship would also have made it difficult to assess abuse.
The cycle of violence is divided into four stages: tension building, the abuse or violent incident, the reconciliation period, and the calm or honeymoon phase. Tension building is the stage where the abuser exhibits anger and paranoia that usually stems from stressful situations that make the victim anxious and guarded. The abuse stage is where the violence occurs and could range from verbal abuse to physical or sexual violence. The reconciliation stage is where the abuser uses gifts and kind gestures to persuade the victim to move past the abuse. The honeymoon phase is where both the abuser and victim are calm and it may be easy to pretend that the abuse incident did not occur or was just a one-time incident. However, the cycle tends to repeat and with time, it gets more severe and frequent (Both et al., 2019). A counselor who understands the abuse cycle can tell which stage a victim and abuser are in which makes it easy to detect cases of abuse (Ogbe et al., 2020). For instance, in the case of Love and Huguely, a counselor would have detected the abuse pattern even when the couple was in the calm stage and this would have made it easier to find an intervention before the abuse became fatal. Huguely would have been reported to the authorities and he would have been served with a restraining order among other legal actions.
In conclusion, the case of Yeardley Love illustrates the impacts of intimate partner violence and how failure to report such cases can escalate to severe outcomes. The cycle of abuse illustrates the stages of domestic violence or abuse and understanding these stages can make it easier for counselors to detect abuse and help determine effective interventions to remove the victim from the situation.
References
Both, L., Favaretto, T., & Freitas, L. (2019). A cycle of violence in women victims of domestic violence: Qualitative analysis of OPD 2 interview. Brain and Behavior, 9(11). https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1430
Lloyd, M. (2018). Domestic Violence and Education: Examining the Impact of Domestic Violence on Young Children, Children, and Young People and the Potential Role of Schools. Frontiers In Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02094
Ogbe, E., Harmon, S., Van den Bergh, R., & Degomme, O. (2020). A systematic review of intimate partner violence interventions focused on improving social support and/ mental health outcomes of survivors. PLOS ONE, 15(6), e0235177. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235177