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.Abstract Teaser