Intimate partner violence among women with severe mental illness

[...] since there is no agreed-on definition of BWS, it may be falsely implied that a diagnosis of PTSD is required for a woman to have killed her abuser in self-defense.37 Expert testimony on battered women has been allowed in courtrooms in the United States since Ibn- Tamas v United States in 1979...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Psychiatric times 2008-04, Vol.25 (4), p.52
Main Authors: Friedman, Susan Hatters, Loue, Sana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Crimes against
Domestic violence
Family violence
Heterosexuality
Mental illness
Murder
Personality disorders
Risk
Suicides & suicide attempts
Violent crime
Women
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:[...] since there is no agreed-on definition of BWS, it may be falsely implied that a diagnosis of PTSD is required for a woman to have killed her abuser in self-defense.37 Expert testimony on battered women has been allowed in courtrooms in the United States since Ibn- Tamas v United States in 1979,38 and it is also used in Canada,Australia,New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.39,40 The expert may be helpful in providing a context for the woman's violence; the impact of the abusive relationship; the learned helplessness model; the patterns or cyclicity of violence, including the potential contrition phase; the use of excessive force; and the woman's belief in the reasonableness of her actions.37,39 However, the expert must use caution not to mislead the court, because these are not the only patterns of violence or profiles of victims.
ISSN:0893-2905