Domestic Violence and Depression


Innocent Children Affected By Domestic Violence.“The number of people reporting incidents of domestic violence to the police is increasing dramatically.”

If you are a victim of domestic violence, you are aware of just how frightening reporting this crime can be. There are many questions that fill the mind such as, “What are the causes of this violence? Is the person just acting out or are there more serious reasons for this behavior?”

According to the latest reports, alcohol plays a large part in cases of Domestic Violence.

There are far too many examples of fatalities that result from the combination of alcohol and anger. For the sake of making this article easier to read, in the example I set forth to you, I shall call the husband John and his wife Linda.

John is a really nice guy when he is sober. Linda is very much in love with him and has hope they will grow old together. John is a great father to their two children, is helpful around the house and is a great cook. The problem occurs after he has had too much to drink. John now becomes a completely different person. He begins accusing his wife of having an affair, becomes abusive and extremely argumentative. Linda, realizing he is drunk, attempts to walk away and leave John to his bad mood. This only adds to his anger and he becomes violent.

The next morning John cannot believe what he has done and is full of regret and remorse. He can’t say sorry enough and begs for Linda’s forgiveness. He promises that it will never happen again and states that he will give up the alcohol if that would make his wife happy.

Linda is not sure what to do. She would love to forgive and forget but she feels it is very likely the abuse will only happen again in the future if she does offer forgiveness.

“In many cases like this, the victim will forgive their partner or husband a number of times before eventually losing patience with them.”

My advice for John would be to stop drinking alcohol straight away. If it is too much for him to handle on his own then I would recommend seeking professional treatment immediately.

Another cause of Domestic Violence is depression. Some people who are normally very relaxed can become very angry and abusive when in a deep state of depression. They can take their problems and frustrations out on their partner much like in the example above.

A few days or weeks later when the person in question is feeling a lot happier, they will not believe what they have done.
Whether it is because of depression or alcohol, one solution to the issue of Domestic Violence could be to enroll in an Anger Management program or to seek the help of a licensed mental health counselor.