Types of domestic abuse

Controlling behaviour

Controlling behaviour is a range of acts performed by an abuser, designed to make their victim subordinate to and/or dependent on them.  This might include but is not limited to:

• isolating the victim from sources of support including family and friends
• exploiting the victim's resources and capacities for personal gain
• depriving the victim of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape
• regulating the victim's everyday behaviour

Coercive behaviour

Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used by the abuser to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

Physical abuse and sexual abuse

Physical abuse is the use of physical force against someone in a way that injures or endangers that person. The police have the power and authority to protect you from physical attack.

Sexual abuse is a form of physical abuse. Forced sex, even by a spouse or intimate partner with whom you also have consensual sex, is an act of aggression and violence.

Emotional or psychological abuse

You do not need to have bruises or broken bones to be abused. Emotional abuse can often be minimised or overlooked – even by the person being abused.

Emotional abuse can include shouting, name-calling, blaming, and shaming. Isolation, intimidation, and controlling behaviour also fall under emotional abuse.

Honour-based abuse

A small minority of both women and men within the UK experience violence and threats at the hands of their family or community in order to protect their perceived ‘honour’. (Family members are defined as mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister and grandparents, whether directly related, in-laws or step-family.)

The warning signs of honour-based abuse are:

• forms of communication being severed between victim and friends
• withdrawal from education or workplace
• criticism of victim for ‘Western’ adoption of clothing or make-up
• restrictions in leaving the house or chaperoning outside the home
• onset of depression or suicidal tendencies in an otherwise happy person