Battered wife syndrome: overview of dynamics and treatment

The authors review some pertinent features of the battered wife syndrome, including definitions, incidence, characteristics of wives, injury profiles, setting of the violence, psychodynamics, role of alcohol, family backgrounds, characteristics of husbands, coping responses of wives, seeking help, social support systems, recognition of the battering syndrome, prevention and treatment, and group therapy. Although force has long been used as a resource in family politics, we have just started to understand some of its precipitants, social and clinical consequences, and treatment options. The battering syndrome is not a disease per se because it cuts across socioeconomic and diagnostic categories. Controlled studies and national attention are required in order to understand more about this costly problem, which poses a treatment dilemma to clinical psychiatry.