Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence

Any sort of physical, sexual or emotional abuse caused by one spouse to another constitutes Domestic violence. Violence towards children and elderly in a household also counts as domestic violence. Use of alcohol seems to be the main culprit in up to 50% of the cases of domestic violence. Stimulants such as cocaine, crack cocaine and amphetamines which reduce impulse control and increase paranoid feelings are also said to be frequently involved in episodes of domestic violence. Male alcoholics are more used to causing domestic violence than their female counterparts. About 20 to 33% of them have reported having assaulted their wives at least once. Their wives reported even higher rates.

The connection

Domestic violence is generally about maintaining power or control over the intimate partners or inferiorly considered people in the household. It is defined as “an impulsive act committed in response to emotions of frustration and anger, with no real expectation of achieving a set objective”. This pattern, when combined with alcohol abuse or substance abuse, results in a most dangerous form of erratic behaviour which may cause injury or psychological and emotional harm to the concerned persons.

Alcoholism and substance abuse rewires the brain and induces risky behaviour in the addicts. This risky behaviour includes loss of control, maintenance of violence despite negative consequences (physical injuries and adverse effect on family relationships), shifting blames, denial, minimization, consumption of time, cycles of escalation and false promises of change among others. Above all these.

Alcohol acts as a catalyst that facilitates violence. The adverse effects of alcoholism and substance abuse are not limited to households alone. They appear in the most unexpected circumstances. For example, chemically dependent women are tabooed and culturally deemed as sexually available. It is thought that sexual aggression towards them is an accepted behaviour. Such women are commonly subjected to physical and sexual violence. But most of such cases go unreported. Substance abuse is noticed in 96% of domestic violence cases. Also 90% of violent married men are observed to have alcoholism disorder as compared to their non-violent counterparts.

Substance use may also affect the functionality of many households in the form of domestic violence in subtle ways. For example, arguments over financial matters (the substance user most often takes money from the spouse, or diverts money that should be used to pay household bills to buy drugs).The patterns of domestic abuse become more deadly when both the partners are intoxicated and both of them are used to domestic abuse. In such cases the victim is blamed more than the perpetrator.

On the contrary, being the victim of domestic abuse may trigger substance abuse in some people. It has been noticed that children who grow up in households with domestic violence are more likely to mock the behaviour of their parents as adults. In households where there are more than one substance abusers, children are at high risk of injury as the addicts, in separation for a bigger high, exhibit uncontrolled rage and aggressive behaviour. They often do cannot judge the impact of their behaviour, physically or emotionally.

However, we cannot say that the entire cases of domestic violence are because of drug/substance abuse. In fact, domestic violence and alcoholism come in pairs. They are connected behaviors. which have control, denial, shame and aggressiveness at their core.

At Phoenix, we have the best medical facilities with a world class team and a dedicated Family Therapist to help you or your loved one to overcome Addiction. Please reach us for more information or to schedule an appointment.