The Three Primary Stages Of Domestic Abuse

The cycle of domestic abuse usually has three primary stages. Of course, every case is a little bit different. This is just the most common occurrence. Some relationships don’t follow the cycle at all, or consist of a slightly different variation of it.
The first stage is the “Tension Building Phase.” The tension building phase is when things like financial problems, custody issues, and surprise pregnancies and such all start to cause stress on the abuser. Verbal abuse starts and the victim tries to keep everything under control by either trying to keep the abuser happy, avoid him or her, or, unfortunately, giving in to the abuser. Eventually, like everything, the tension reaches the breaking point and carries over into stage two.
The second
But the break is not necessarily triggered by the victim of the abuse. It is usually caused by some kind of external event or the abuser’s emotional state. Or perhaps by some third party getting involved in the couple’s business, maybe making the abuser feel jealous and angering him or her and driving them to the point of violence. What this means is that the start of stage two is unpredictable, and uncontrollable by the victim, regardless of how hard the victim tries to prevent it. On the other hand, there are some cases where the victim will deliberately, though unconsciously, provoke the abuser into stage two to get passed it and move right on to stage three.
Stage three is primarily called “The Honeymoon Phase.” In this stage, the abuser feels great remorse and guilt for his or her actions in stage two. The abuser will try to convince the victim that the abuse was an accident and will never happen again, as well as completely changing their behavior and become much more helpful and caring. The abuser will often try to make up for the abuse by buying the victim gifts and they will promise and swear that they