The Effects of Abuse Essay Example
📌Category: | Crime, Social Issues, Violence |
📌Words: | 465 |
📌Pages: | 2 |
📌Published: | 14 March 2021 |
Abuse was a topic that was constantly recurring in IT! by Stephen King. Many characters within the book came from abusive households. Such as Henry Bowers who is the main bully in the story. And the abuse affected them in a variety of ways. My goal in writing this paper is to explore the effect abuse has on people and how being abused can lead to a person becoming abusive.
Abuse has many different effects on people. “The damage inflicted by violence may be
physical, psychological, or both” (Jacquin , 1). And there are many different behaviors associated with abuse. “Emotional and psychological abuse can include different types of aggressive, manipulative, and harmful behavior” (“Domestic Violence”). There is a prevalence of poor physical health in individuals who were abused which is likely due to constantly being in stressful situations. “The Child Welfare Information Gateway, a service of the U.S. Children's Bureau, reports that abused children generally experience poor physical health for most of their lives and are "more likely to suffer from…allergies, arthritis, asthma, bronchitis, high blood pressure, and ulcers” (“Spotlight: The Effects of Child Abuse”). And they are also more likely to struggle with mental health issues. “Children as young as three may show signs of depression, while "as many as 80 percent of young adults who had been abused met the diagnostic criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder at age 21” (1). In addition to that they are also likely to suffer from alcoholism.
“In a study published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, it was reported that 33 percent of male and 24 percent of female alcoholics had been physically abused as children, while 12 percent of men and 49 percent of women being treated for alcoholism had been sexually abused” (1). Long after the abuse has ended many survivors still struggle to move past the violence they endured (1).
Next I would like to explore how victims of abuse can become abusers. One of the reasons
why this can occur is because the person who was abused is trying to feel more powerful. “By becoming an abuser, someone who has been abused can play the role of the more powerful person in the relationship in an attempt to overcome the powerlessness they felt when they were being Wilson 2 abused” (Hartney , 1). Many times people who have been abused feel inadequate and they try to rid themselves of this feeling by picking up the ideology that they are superior to other people (1).
Abused individuals are understably angered about the abuse they endured and abusing others may be a way for them to release their anger (1). And hurting others may be a coping mechanism because they are trying to abuse others before they get the chance to be abused (1). Some people who have been in these violent relationships view them as normal so they may not realize there are healthier ways to have a relationship with others (1).