Regeher And Walker's Three Phases Of An Abusive Relationship

- According to Burgess, Regeher and Roberts, Walker (2017), suggest that once in a woman’s life time, a woman may encounter an abusive relationship, however, if the abuse occurs more than once and the woman stays in the relationship she is considered a battered woman. Once a woman encounters abuse more than once, she is now a part of the battering cycle (Burgess, Regehr & Roberts, 2013, pg.299).
The battering cycle includes three phases. The first phase is when the batterer cannot control his own anger so he begins to take out his frustrations on his significant other with foul language or physical abuse. The woman tries to satisfy the batterer to avoid more abuse. The strain on the relationship grows and it turns into an acute episode which
includes more and severe physical and verbal abuse and the woman is threatened with death. After this acute episode, the batterer has a phase of non-abuse which is when he is apologizing and very remorseful towards his significant other, this is the final phase. During the final phase, the batterer lets his significant other know that he will never act out with abuse again and he begins to make her feel loved again and protected. As this stage wears off, the abuse begins again and the cycle starts over (Burgess et al., 2013, pg.299).