How perpetrators of domestic violence use drugs and alcohol to control their victims

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How perpetrators of domestic ********* use drugs and alcohol to control their victims

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

At least three decades of research on the intersection of

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with domestic and family ********* consistently shows the frequency, severity and impact of ********* increases in the context of the perpetrator using alcohol and other drugs.

Some 24%–54% of domestic and family ********* incidents

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in Australia are classified as alcohol-related, while other drugs are implicated in 1%–9% of incidents. This is consistent with international evidence which shows substance use occurs with domestic and family ********* in

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.

Several studies have also pointed to the

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of domestic and family ********* when substances are involved. An

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, which looked at 240 women murdered by a current or former male partner between 2010 and 2018, reports more than 60% of the male perpetrators were affected by alcohol or drugs during the fatal episode.

Other research indicates

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is two to three times more likely to involve severe physical ********* such as life-threatening injuries and broken bones, compared to domestic and family ********* where alcohol is not involved.

Our research, however, is interested specifically in the role alcohol and other drugs play in perpetrators’ tactics of ********* and ******. This is sometimes called “

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” and is a type of

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.

Understanding substance use coercion

Coercive control is a repeated pattern of emotional, verbal, *******, financial or technology-enabled ****** that creates ***** and exerts control over another person.

A set of

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seeking to address coercive control in family and domestic ********* recognize that substance use can be exploited in the same way as technology or financial ******.

Our work identifies several ways perpetrators may use

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as a form of coercive control, or, in other words, exploit their own substance use to gain more power. These include:

• to excuse their ********* (“The drink made me do it”)
• to shift the focus from their ****** to other issues (“I have a ***** problem, that’s more important”)
• to control others through their substance use. For example, when a person using ********* is intoxicated or in withdrawal, victim-survivors often comply with their demands or
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  to de-escalate the *********.

Perpetrators may also weaponize victim-survivors’ substance use. Research shows that, to numb the physical and emotional pain of family *********, victim-survivors may start using substances.

Perpetrators often

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to increase their power and control over the victim-survivor and to undermine their credibility if authorities become involved.

Likewise, perpetrators may exacerbate victim-survivors’ existing substance use, such as by pressuring them to drink or take drugs

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. Alternatively they might sabotage victim-survivors’ recovery efforts, preventing their access to

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.

Another tactic involves lying about the nature and extent of the victim-survivor’s substance use. This can

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with authorities such as child protection services or the family court.

Children suffer too

On a basic level, children are terrified when they hear their father come home ****** and abusive. They ***** for both themselves and their mothers, often finding the ****** that follows leaves them with neither parent in a position to look after their needs.

They may also be implicated in their father’s substance-use coercion. For example:

“Unless you shut those kids up, I’m going to drink.”

The severe impact on children living with ********* where either or both parents are substance-affected can be seen through child protection data.

A recent

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reported on children living in situations of domestic and family *********. Children where one or both parents had either substance-use issues or poor mental health were three times more likely to be identified as at risk of harm warranting statutory intervention, than in cases of domestic and family ********* alone.

Children in situations where substance use and domestic and family ********* intersect are some of the most vulnerable in Australia.

What can we do?

Policy and practice responses to the intersection of domestic ********* and substance use, both in

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and

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, have tended to focus on single issues: domestic ********* or substance use.

While many families experience domestic ********* and substance use as profoundly intertwined, service systems often fragment their experiences, treating the two as disconnected problems.

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is exploring how these two highly siloed sectors can work together, in the form of a

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for fathers who used ********* and ****** in the context of substance use. These men had more significant histories of ********* and ****** than men in a similar program targeting ********* only.

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shows programs that address both substance use and domestic ********* are developed but rarely sustained, despite evidence of their effectiveness.

We would like to see more nuanced policy and practice that recognizes the complex crossover between domestic and family ********* and substance use. Importantly, these approaches must address children’s experiences of these intersecting issues, and provide tailored responses to promote their safety.

Provided by
The Conversation

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How perpetrators of domestic ********* use drugs and alcohol to control their victims (2024, September 17)
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#perpetrators #domestic #********* #drugs #alcohol #control #victims

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