Domestic violence has been a significant issue for a long time in households across India. Domestic Violence can be defined as a pattern of behavior used to exercise control over women through power, generally through physical abuse. This leads to the female partner to suffer from emotional, psychological or sexual abuse. According to a research, index of domestic violence which measures verbal and physical abuse towards wives and children as a consequence of drinking is 3.5 times higher for heavy drinkers compared to overindulgent drinkers and 6.5 times higher for heavy drinkers when compared to social drinkers. According to studies, there seems to be a positive relationship between alcohol consumption and behavioral aggression. (Taylor, S., & Leonard, K. (1983) In this paper, I would talk about the effects of excessive consumption of alcohol and its contribution towards aggravating domestic violence in India.
The criteria for substance abuse according to DSM 5 claims that a person suffering from substance abuse like alcohol have a maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress in the period of 12 months. The person suffering continues to rely on substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by substance abuse. (Butcher, James Neal, 1933) In a survey report conducted by the National Crime Records Bureau shows that among married women who have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, 83% reported their present husbands as perpetrators of the violence.
One reason for this gender imbalance is that males are more likely than females to self-medicate their fear and panic with alcohol and in so doing start down the slippery slope to addiction. Men working in high-stress prone jobs consume alcohol along with other peers. However, a person prone to alcohol is much more susceptible to rely on alcohol. Individuals inherit tendencies or behaviors, which may then be activated under conditions of stress. The smaller the vulnerability, the greater the stress required to produce the disorder; conversely, with greater vulnerability, less life stress is required.
Alcohol is known for lowering cognitive abilities like rational thinking, being less aware of the surroundings, unable to acknowledge the intentions or emotions of others they are interacting with. Excessive drinking leads to memory loss, as the person cannot recall what they did or behaved like under the influence of alcohol. They remember less about previous events., feel less, perceive less, remember less. Not only it makes one compromise his/her family life, but repeated drinking can also have a hazardous impact on physical health. Moreover, for people who drink daily, it ends up costing a lot of money. It particularly impacts the poor families and their resources as it leaves other family members destitute. Apart from the depletion of financial resources, alcohol abuse notably leads to certain intoxicated events in the family that can have lasting consequences like home accidents and family violence (Room, 1998; Room et al., 2002). However, to deal with this problem of alcohol and domestic violence has to understand that, a person with more control of their life and well-being tend to not drink to extended level as they are still in their consciousness.
Spousal domestic violence against women is reported to have far-reaching mental health implications in the victims. Depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, self-harm, and sleep disorders are well documented to be mental health. Psychological abuse can erode a woman’s sense of self-worth and can be incredibly harmful to overall mental and physical wellbeing. Due to pressure from the immediate society, sometimes women are bound to stay with their husbands because there is a constant belief that a man holds much more power in a household and a woman must fulfill his wishes. It can affect the family members to the extends where they might have substantial mental health problems and the victim (spouse starts drinking to reduce pain, which is led by lowering cognitive processing). Some studies record the rate of domestic abuse against women in poorer families to be higher than in the middle or upper class.
Substance abuse, alcohol, leads to a vicious cycle. Hence a constructive way to change the social structure, in which men are taught not to treat women violently and alcohol is not the best thing to rely on during high stress. Moreover, women should be provided with social support to whom they can reach out during domestic violence.
Taylor, S., & Leonard, K. (1983). Alcohol and human physical aggression. In R. Geen & E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Aggression: Theoretical and empirical reviews (Vol. 2, pp. 77–101). New York: Academic Press.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ade4/fb4b01a59a2687e56415604187143c723f29.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20544380
Dillon G, Hussain R, Loxton D, Rahman S. Mental and physical health and intimate partner violence against women: A Review of the literature. Int J Family Med 2013;2013:313909
https://www.news18.com/news/india/the-elephant-in-the-room-every-third-woman-in-india-faces-domestic-violence-1654193.html
The criteria for substance abuse according to DSM 5 claims that a person suffering from substance abuse like alcohol have a maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress in the period of 12 months. The person suffering continues to rely on substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by substance abuse. (Butcher, James Neal, 1933) In a survey report conducted by the National Crime Records Bureau shows that among married women who have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, 83% reported their present husbands as perpetrators of the violence.
One reason for this gender imbalance is that males are more likely than females to self-medicate their fear and panic with alcohol and in so doing start down the slippery slope to addiction. Men working in high-stress prone jobs consume alcohol along with other peers. However, a person prone to alcohol is much more susceptible to rely on alcohol. Individuals inherit tendencies or behaviors, which may then be activated under conditions of stress. The smaller the vulnerability, the greater the stress required to produce the disorder; conversely, with greater vulnerability, less life stress is required.
Alcohol is known for lowering cognitive abilities like rational thinking, being less aware of the surroundings, unable to acknowledge the intentions or emotions of others they are interacting with. Excessive drinking leads to memory loss, as the person cannot recall what they did or behaved like under the influence of alcohol. They remember less about previous events., feel less, perceive less, remember less. Not only it makes one compromise his/her family life, but repeated drinking can also have a hazardous impact on physical health. Moreover, for people who drink daily, it ends up costing a lot of money. It particularly impacts the poor families and their resources as it leaves other family members destitute. Apart from the depletion of financial resources, alcohol abuse notably leads to certain intoxicated events in the family that can have lasting consequences like home accidents and family violence (Room, 1998; Room et al., 2002). However, to deal with this problem of alcohol and domestic violence has to understand that, a person with more control of their life and well-being tend to not drink to extended level as they are still in their consciousness.
Spousal domestic violence against women is reported to have far-reaching mental health implications in the victims. Depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, self-harm, and sleep disorders are well documented to be mental health. Psychological abuse can erode a woman’s sense of self-worth and can be incredibly harmful to overall mental and physical wellbeing. Due to pressure from the immediate society, sometimes women are bound to stay with their husbands because there is a constant belief that a man holds much more power in a household and a woman must fulfill his wishes. It can affect the family members to the extends where they might have substantial mental health problems and the victim (spouse starts drinking to reduce pain, which is led by lowering cognitive processing). Some studies record the rate of domestic abuse against women in poorer families to be higher than in the middle or upper class.
Substance abuse, alcohol, leads to a vicious cycle. Hence a constructive way to change the social structure, in which men are taught not to treat women violently and alcohol is not the best thing to rely on during high stress. Moreover, women should be provided with social support to whom they can reach out during domestic violence.
Taylor, S., & Leonard, K. (1983). Alcohol and human physical aggression. In R. Geen & E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Aggression: Theoretical and empirical reviews (Vol. 2, pp. 77–101). New York: Academic Press.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ade4/fb4b01a59a2687e56415604187143c723f29.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20544380
Dillon G, Hussain R, Loxton D, Rahman S. Mental and physical health and intimate partner violence against women: A Review of the literature. Int J Family Med 2013;2013:313909
https://www.news18.com/news/india/the-elephant-in-the-room-every-third-woman-in-india-faces-domestic-violence-1654193.html
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