Domestic Violence: The Hidden Story of Abused Men

Posted by Allan N. Schwartz, LCSW, PhD

Mon, May 26th 2008

The history of the abuse of women is well documented and incontrovertible. What is more hidden and wrapped in myth is the fact of the abuse of men. It is probably counter intuitive to think of men as subjected to emotional and physical abuse as the hands of women but it does happen.

Dr. Robert J.Reid, MD recently lead a study just published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (May 2008) that discussed domestic violence and looked at the statistics involving abused men and women. The results were fascinating in that they clearly demonstrated the fact that abused men are understudied and hidden. He found that there are also a number of myths surrounding the issue of abused men.

Myth 1: Men are not physically abused by women.
Fact: There is a 30% rate of domestic violence cases involving men being abused by women. Also, physical abuse of men includes being kicked, hit and forced to have sexual relations against their will. The non physical abuse includes being the target of threats and the recipient of disparaging remarks and curses.

Myth 2: Men are not affected when women are abusive.
Fact: Men suffer from depression as a result of being abused.
However, Dr. Reid does state that the findings show that men are not as physically harmed as are women by violent abusive attacks.


Original Article-

Domestic Violence: The Hidden Story of Abused Men - Abuse