Causes of Psychological violence

What is psychological violence?

Psychological violence is a type of violence in which violent
behaviors and attitudes are exercised towards a person,
causing both mental and emotional damage to the person.
This type of violence could cause problems of anxiety,
depression, self-esteem, among others.
Some authors such as the renowned American clinical
psychologist Lenore Walker define psychological violence
as: “a set of behaviors and attitudes that aim to control,
dominate, manipulate and humiliate the partner through the
use of intimidation, fear, shame. , guilt and denial.”
Types of psychological violence
Psychological violence has different ways of presenting
itself, these are some of the examples that a person who
exercises psychological violence against another may have:
• Manipulation: this is where the aggressor exercises
manipulation or control over the affected person in order to
limit their own decisions, prohibit friends and even family
members.
• Humiliate: the person who exercises psychological
violence with her partner or friends tends to humiliate her in
public, it can be comments on her physique, her way of
thinking, acting and even on her own friends.
• Threats: as the name suggests, the aggressor makes
threatening comments or comments that involve a possible
action on the affected person.
• Emotional invalidation: this is when the aggressor
constantly minimizes the person's feelings, that is, denying
 or hiding the psychological violence exerted on the affected
person.
• Prohibition: one of the types of psychological violence can
be presented as the prohibition to see or hang out with
friends, family, even people who suffer from it could not
have contact with anyone either because the aggressor
prohibits it.
• Gaslighting: this is a practice where the aggressor exercises
psychological violence by distorting the reality of the
situation, seeking to make the victim confused and think that
everything he is doing is wrong and the aggressor is doing
right.

Main causes of psychological violence

Psychological violence is very common not only
in family units, but also in work, academic, and
even friendship relationships.
The causes can be related to training, but it can
also be said that it occurs when the person who
exercises psychological violence is not present in
an attitudinal sense and, therefore, exerts pressure
and degradation on others.
Likewise, another cause is the inability to
recognize or respect the place of another.
This is how violent reactions are stimulated. So it
can be said that psychological violence is caused
 precisely by problems managing emotions and
developing good attitudes.
This indicates that not only the victim of
psychological violence needs therapy and
treatment to escape the vicious circles of this type
of violence, but also the perpetrator.

Other causes that should be taken into

account are:
• The alcoholism
• Ignorance and lack of knowledge
• Poor Education
• Not being able to control impulses
• Lack of understanding towards others
• Drug addiction