Battered Woman Syndrome Case Study

The Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) is a mental disorder that develops in victims of domestic violence as a result of serious, long-term abuse. However, the danger of BWS is insidious, as it invokes learned helplessness where the victims becomes depressed, defeated, and passive to the point that she believes she is incapable of leaving the abusive situation. BWS afflicted women feel fearful, weak, and more often remain with their abuser with the hope that he/she will stop hurting her. However, this allows the cycle of domestic violence to continue. On the basis of the scenario above, we hypothesize that the victim in question do have BWS based on her symptoms. We propose an assessment and intervention plan to address the situation.
Assessment:
Assess the immediate safety needs of the victim.
We propose to assess the immediate safety of the victim by performing a complete medical and psychological assessment. Medical assessment will address the physical risk factors of current injuries and propose immediate treatment whereas psychological assessment will determine the victim’s state of mind and provide emotional support.
Assess the pattern and history of abuse.
We propose to assess the patterns of physical, sexual, and psychological damage the victim have sustained. The information of prior abuse patterns can be used as a benchmark for future prevention as well as evidence for legal procedures (if the victim chooses to pursue legal charges).
Assess the connection between domestic violence and the patient’s health issues.
We propose to apply the information gained from the medical and psychological assessment to determine the connection between the domestic violence towards the victim and her injuries. The information from successfully connecting the two would serve as evidence for legal procedures.
Assess the victim’s current access to advocacy and support groups.
We propose to introduce the victim to culturally appropriate community resources available.
Examples of such resources are: The National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH), National Dating Abuse Helpline, National Sexual Assault Hotline, National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health, etc.

Intervention: After collecting information regarding the victim’s physical and psychological state, we propose an intervention in the form of:
Relationship counseling.
According to the scenario, the victim’s doctor have referred the domestic abuse to the police previously, but the victim refused to pursue legal matters. Based on this, we propose the victim and abuser to undergo relationship counseling to address the existing aggression and workout an alternative solution.
Legal proceedings.
On the situation where relationship counseling did not work and domestic violence continues, we propose the victim to pursue legal proceedings. We hypothesize that the State would have an interest in protecting the life of people within it, which we argue is a better solution than “attacking her partner in his/her sleep”. We hypothesize that following a legal proceeding of domestic abuse, considering the facts of the current case which has been collected and recorded in the assessment phase would be enough to warrant separation from the victim’s
abuser.