Understanding Intimate Partner Violence
Recognizing the forms, dynamics, and impacts of abuse in relationships
RelationshipsInfo SheetFree ResourceLast reviewed April 2026
Understanding Intimate Partner Violence
Recognizing the forms, dynamics, and impacts of abuse in relationships
Understanding Intimate Partner Violence
Recognizing the forms, dynamics, and impacts of abuse in relationships
Intimate partner violence (IPV) encompasses a range of behaviors used by one partner to establish and maintain power and control over another within a romantic relationship. Coercive control theory explains that abuse operates through an ongoing pattern of domination that restricts a victim's autonomy, liberty, and sense of self (Dutton & Goodman, 2005). IPV affects people of every gender, sexual orientation, age, race, and socioeconomic background. Approximately 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experience contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime (Smith et al., 2018), and the World Health Organization identifies IPV as a major global public health problem with far-reaching consequences for physical and mental health (World Health Organization, 2021). Abuse is never the victim's fault, and effective support, safety planning, and treatment are available.
Forms of Intimate Partner Violence
Physical abuse: Any intentional use of physical force with the potential for causing injury, disability, or death. This includes hitting, slapping, choking, pushing, restraining, using weapons, or denying a partner access to medical care after an injury. Physical violence often escalates in severity over time.Example: A partner who initially shoves during arguments may progress to hitting or throwing objects over time. Any use of physical force in a relationship is abuse, regardless of whether it leaves visible marks.
Emotional and psychological abuse: Patterns of behavior that undermine a partner's sense of self-worth, reality, or autonomy. This includes persistent criticism, humiliation, threats, gaslighting (causing the victim to question their own perception of events), isolation from friends and family, monitoring movements and communications, and using children or pets as leverage. Psychological abuse can be as damaging to mental health as physical violence (Lagdon et al., 2014).Example: A partner might insist that an argument never happened, say things like 'you're too sensitive' or 'no one else would put up with you,' and gradually cut off contact with the victim's friends by creating conflict whenever they spend time together.
Financial abuse: Controlling a partner's ability to acquire, use, or maintain financial resources. This may involve preventing employment, withholding access to bank accounts, running up debt in the partner's name, or forcing financial dependence. Financial abuse is a primary barrier to leaving an abusive relationship.Example: An abuser might demand receipts for every purchase, provide a small weekly allowance, or sabotage their partner's job interviews to ensure they remain financially dependent.
Sexual abuse: Any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act through coercion, force, or without the partner's full consent. This includes within marriage and long-term relationships. Consent must be freely given each time and can be withdrawn at any point.Example: A partner who uses guilt, pressure, or threats to coerce sexual activity -- or who ignores a clearly stated 'no' -- is committing sexual abuse, even within a marriage or long-term relationship.
Digital abuse and stalking: Using technology to monitor, harass, threaten, or control a partner. This includes tracking location through phone apps, demanding passwords, sending threatening messages, distributing intimate images without consent, or using social media to publicly humiliate a partner (Freed et al., 2018).Example: An abuser might secretly install a tracking app on their partner's phone, demand to read every text message, or threaten to share private photos if the partner tries to leave the relationship.
Why Leaving Is Difficult
Fear of escalation: Research consistently identifies the period of leaving as the most dangerous time for abuse victims. The abuser may escalate threats or violence when they perceive a loss of control. Victims may also fear retaliation against children, family members, or pets.Example: A victim may stay because previous attempts to leave were met with intensified threats, stalking, or violence -- confirming their fear that leaving could make the situation more dangerous.
Trauma bonding: Cycles of abuse followed by remorse, affection, and promises of change create powerful emotional attachments, a pattern known as traumatic bonding (Dutton & Painter, 1993). The intermittent reinforcement of kindness amid abuse makes the relationship feel irreplaceable despite the harm.Example: After a violent episode, the abuser may become intensely loving and remorseful, bringing gifts and promising it will never happen again. These periods of warmth make the victim hope the relationship can be good, creating a powerful emotional bond that is difficult to break.
Practical and financial barriers: Many victims lack independent financial resources, housing, transportation, or childcare. Abusers frequently engineer financial dependence precisely to prevent leaving. Systemic barriers such as immigration status, lack of legal representation, and limited shelter availability compound these challenges.Example: A victim with no income, no car, and young children may feel unable to leave because they have nowhere safe to go and no way to support themselves independently.
Internalized blame and cultural pressure: Abusers frequently convince victims that the abuse is their fault. Societal messages about keeping families together, religious expectations, and cultural stigma around divorce or separation may reinforce the victim's reluctance to seek help.Example: A victim may think, 'If I were a better partner, this wouldn't happen,' or feel pressure from family members who say, 'Every marriage has problems -- you need to try harder.'
Common Psychological Effects of Abuse
- Depression, including persistent sadness, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation Example: A survivor may feel a deep, unshakable sadness and believe that things will never get better, even after the relationship has ended.
- Post-traumatic stress, including hypervigilance, flashbacks, and nightmares Example: A survivor might flinch at the sound of a door slamming or experience vivid, intrusive memories of a frightening incident that feel as though they are happening all over again.
- Anxiety, panic attacks, and chronic fear Example: A survivor may experience a racing heart, shortness of breath, and overwhelming dread in situations that remind them of the abuse, such as hearing a raised voice.
- Shame, self-blame, and diminished self-worth Example: A survivor may repeatedly think, 'I should have seen the warning signs' or 'I deserved it,' even though the abuse was never their fault.
- Substance use as a coping mechanism Example: A survivor might turn to alcohol or other substances to numb emotional pain or to fall asleep at night without nightmares.
- Social withdrawal and difficulty trusting others Example: A survivor may avoid forming new friendships or romantic relationships because they fear being hurt again, or they may pull away from people who genuinely care about them.
Getting Help
Confidential crisis support is available around the clock: In the United States, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788. Trained advocates can help with safety planning, local shelter referrals, legal resources, and emotional support. All services are free and confidential. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.Example: A person who is unsure whether their situation qualifies as abuse can call the hotline confidentially to talk through what they are experiencing and explore their options without any obligation to take immediate action.
Recovery is possible with professional support: Trauma-focused therapies such as cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and EMDR have strong evidence for treating the psychological effects of intimate partner violence (Warshaw et al., 2013). A qualified therapist can help rebuild safety, self-worth, and autonomy regardless of whether the person has left the relationship.Example: Through therapy, a survivor can gradually process traumatic memories, challenge self-blame, and rebuild confidence in their own perceptions and decisions.
References
- Dutton, D. G., & Painter, S. (1993). Emotional attachments in abusive relationships: A test of traumatic bonding theory. Violence and Victims, 8(2), 105-120. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.8.2.105
- Dutton, M. A., & Goodman, L. A. (2005). Coercion in intimate partner violence: Toward a new conceptualization. Sex Roles, 52(11-12), 743-756. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-4196-6
- Freed, D., Palmer, J., Minchala, D., Levy, K., Ristenpart, T., & Dell, N. (2018). "A stalker's paradise": How intimate partner abusers exploit technology. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Paper 667). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174241
- Lagdon, S., Armour, C., & Stringer, M. (2014). Adult experience of mental health outcomes as a result of intimate partner violence victimisation: A systematic review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 5(1), Article 24794. https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v5.24794
- Smith, S. G., Zhang, X., Basile, K. C., Merrick, M. T., Wang, J., Kresnow, M., & Chen, J. (2018). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2015 data brief (Updated release). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Warshaw, C., Sullivan, C. M., & Rivera, E. A. (2013). A systematic review of trauma-focused interventions for domestic violence survivors. National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1037/e566602013-001
- World Health Organization. (2021). Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018: Global, regional and national prevalence estimates for intimate partner violence against women and global and regional prevalence estimates for non-partner sexual violence against women. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240022256
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Common Questions
What is the Understanding Intimate Partner Violence worksheet?
Intimate partner violence (IPV) encompasses a range of behaviors used by one partner to establish and maintain power and control over another within a romantic relationship.
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