Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Expert Challenges 'Private Matter' Myth
Clinical psychologist Dan Flannery says domestic violence is wrongly treated as a private family matter, and explains how it harms children and is enabled by digital tools.
As Domestic Violence Awareness Month puts a renewed spotlight on the issue, a clinical psychologist is challenging one of the most persistent misconceptions surrounding it: that what happens inside a home is a private matter beyond anyone else's reach.
Dan Flannery, a professor at the Mandel School at Case Western Reserve University and director of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, said the historical approach to domestic violence has treated it as a family matter in which outsiders have no right or ability to intercede, even when they suspect a serious problem.
Flannery, who is also a clinical psychologist, said the consequences extend well beyond the adults involved. The first couple of years of life are the most significant period for brain development, and even a young child who is merely a witness to violence — not yet verbal — can have the development of neurocircuitry affected by interactions with caregivers or parents.
He also pointed to the role of digital technology, describing it as a relatively new factor that has changed the landscape. Perpetrators can use social media, the internet and other tools to post information and pictures, control a partner, and track them, enabling levels of surveillance and monitoring that did not previously exist.
While women are the most frequent victims of domestic violence, Flannery stressed that many people live in a home affected by it, including males and male caregivers, grandparents, siblings and children. The issue, he said, is a family one rather than an individual one.
On what people can do, Flannery cautioned against the simplistic advice that someone in danger should simply leave. He said those with concerns should surround themselves with a trusted support network, and that the period when a person decides to leave is often when homicides abated by suicide occur, with a perpetrator killing a spouse and then themselves.
Reaching out to law enforcement may be necessary, he added, but it should be done with a plan in place. He noted that resources exist in every community, including domestic violence centres, rape crisis centres and homeless facilities that can house women and children trying to leave an abusive relationship.
Alongside greater awareness, Flannery said, sensitivity to the issue has increased and community resources are expanding everywhere.