Male Abuse Awareness Week

There is a cultural bias which maintains that males cannot be victims. Males are expected to be confident, knowledgeable, and aggressive. When boys are victimized, they tend to be blamed more for their abuse and are viewed as less in need of care and support, than girls who are abused.

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Types of male abuse, facts and statistics

- At least 41 percent of the victims of domestic violence are men. (Harvey P. Forehand)
- As many as 1 in 5 males will be sexually abused before the age of 18. And one in five of adult rape victims are male. (Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US, or FBI)
- One in six men will be a victim of domestic abuse in their lifetime. (The British Crime Survey 2006/07 figures)
- Same-sex batterers use forms of abuse similar to those of heterosexual batterers. They have an additional weapon in the threat of “outing” their partner to family, friends, employers or community. (Lundy, Abuse That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Assisting Victims of Lesbian and Gay Domestic Violence in Massachusetts, 28 New Eng. L. Rev. 273 (Winter 1993)
- women who abuse men tend to prefer forms of abuse that don’t involve physical violence. The hurt, the injury caused by the habitual use of vicious mockery, frequent emotional blackmail, spreading odious lies and so on aren’t visible. (Harvey P. Forehand)
- Male Sexual Harassment in the Work Place on the Rise; According to a report by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission there were a record amount of harassment complaints filed by men in 2006. The figures given in the report state that of the 12,025 sexual harassment claims made in 2006 15.4 percent of these claims came from men. This shows a significant increase of male harassment cases made in the last ten years of 4.5. ([link])
- Munchausen by Proxy is when someone is causing illness or injury in another to obtain attention; usually by a parent or caregiver against a child (in 85% of cases the child is male) ([link])

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Useful websites and books

Why men do not disclose – [link]
ManKind (chariity supporting male victims of abuse) – [link]
M-Power – [link]

Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse – by Mic Hunter
Victims No Longer: Men Recovering from Incest and Other Sexual Child Abuse – by Mike Lew
The House On Telegraph Hill (An Asylum): Growing Up with Abusive Parents and a Lifetime After – by Charles S. Wilson

Domestic abuse against men

Not only women are victims of Domestic Abuse. Men can be, and frequently are, also victims of abuse in the home, either at the hands of their female or, in the case of same-sex relationships, their male partner. Abuse is a control issue – abusers believe they have the right to manipulate, control and humilate another person, and this belief is not only held by some men but also by some women.

Every year, 1,510,455 women and 834,732 men are victims of physical violence by an intimate. This is according to a Nov. 1998 Department of Justice report on the National Violence Against Women Survey. What does that mean?
Every 37.8 seconds a man is beaten. The data show that men are more likely to have a knife used on them or to be threatened with a knife, hit with an object, kicked, bitten or have something thrown at them.

Domestic violence is: Any incident or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or are family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.

Abuse affects all dimensions of human development and existence

Physical and neurobiological

In addition to such direct results of trauma as broken bones or ruptured internal organs, physically abused children often display retarded physical growth and poor coordination. Malnutrition may slow the development of the brain as well as produce such dietary deficiency diseases as rickets. In both children and adults, repeated trauma produces changes in the neurochemistry of the brain that affect memory formation. Instead of memories being formed in the normal way, which allows them to be modified by later experiences and integrated into the person’s ongoing life, traumatic memories are stored as chaotic fragments of emotion and sensation that are sealed off from ordinary consciousness. These traumatic memories may then erupt from time to time in the form of flashbacks.

Cognitive and emotional

Abused children develop distorted patterns of cognition (knowing) because they are stressed emotionally by abuse. As adults, they may suffer from cognitive distortions that make it hard for them to distinguish between normal occurrences and abnormal ones, or between important matters and relatively trivial ones. They often misinterpret other people’s behavior and refuse to trust them. Emotional distortions include such patterns as being unable to handle strong feelings, or being unusually tolerant of behavior from others that most people would protest.

Social and educational

The cognitive and emotional aftereffects of abuse have a powerful impact on adult educational, social, and occupational functioning. Children who are abused are often in physical and emotional pain at school; they cannot concentrate on schoolwork, and consequently fall behind in their grades. They often find it hard to make or keep friends, and may be victimized by bullies or become bullies themselves. In adult life, abuse survivors are at risk of repeating childhood patterns through forming relationships with abusive spouses, employers, or professionals. Even though a survivor may consciously want to avoid re-abuse, the individual is often unconsciously attracted to people who remind him or her of the family of origin. Abused adults are also likely to fail to complete their education, or they accept employment that is significantly below their actual level of abilit.

Adverse Childhood Experiences

The  adverse childhood experiences study population included 9,367 (54%) women and 7,970 (46%) men (total sample=17,337). Their mean age was 56 years. Seventy-five percent were white, 39% were college graduates, 36% had some college education, and 18% were high school graduates. Only 7% had not graduated from high school.1,13
The Study assessed 10 categories of stressful or traumatic childhood experiences (seen below). The experiences chosen for study were based upon prior research that has shown them to have significant adverse health or social implications, and for which efforts in the public and private sector exist to reduce the frequency and consequences of their occurrence.
Prior research into the effects of childhood maltreatment and related experiences (including witnessing domestic violence) has tended to focus on only one or two categories of experience, such as physical or sexual abuse or domestic violence, and has generally focused on a limited range of outcomes. The ACE Study is unique not only because of its size, but because it was also designed to assess the relationships of a broad range of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to a wide range of health and social consequences.

• Childhood abuse

-Emotional

-Physical

-Sexual

• Neglect

-Emotional

-Physical

• Growing up in a seriously dysfunctional household as evidenced by:

-Witnessing domestic violence

-Alcohol or other substance abuse in the home

- Mentally ill or suicidal household members

- Parental marital discord (as evidenced by separation or divorce)

- Crime in the home (as evidenced by having a household member imprisoned)

The first important conclusion to be drawn is that adverse childhood experiences are very common. Moreover, ACE Study estimates of the prevalence of childhood exposures to physical and sexual abuse are similar to population-based surveys. A national telephone survey of adults conducted by Finkelhor et al. used similar criteria for childhood sexual abuse and determined that 16% of men and 27% of women had been sexually abused; in the ACE Study cohort 16% of men and 25% of women in our sample had experienced contact childhood sexual abuse. In our study, 30% of the men had been physically abused as boys; this closely parallels the 31% prevalence recently found in a similarly structured population-based study of Canadian men. The similarity of the estimates from the ACE Study to those of population-based studies suggests that findings would be applicable in other settings.

The other findings from this study are detailed below:

The effects of ACEs are long-term, powerful, cumulative, and likely to be invisible to health care providers, educators, social service organizations, and policy makers because the linkage between cause and effect is concealed by time, the inability to “see” the process of neurodevelopment, and because effects of the original traumatic insults may not become manifest until much later in life. When a child is wounded, the pain and negative long-term effects reverberate as an echo of the lives of people they grew up with—and then they grow up, at risk for taking on the same characteristics and behaviors—thereby sustaining the cycle of abuse, neglect, violence and substance abuse, and mental illness.

References
Anda RF, Felitti VJ, Walker J, Whitfield, CL, Bremner JD, Perry BD, Dube SR, Giles WH. The Enduring Effects of Abuse and Related Adverse Experiences in Childhood: A Convergence of Evidence from Neurobiology and Epidemiology. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 2006; 256(3):174-86
Dube SR, Miller JW, Brown DW, Giles WH, Felitti VJ, Dong M, Anda RF. Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Association with Ever Using Alcohol and Initiating Alcohol Use During Adolescence. . Journal of Adolescent Health, 2006;38(4):444.e1-444.e10.
Anda, RF, Felitti, VJ, Brown, DW, Chapman, D, Dong, M, Dube, SR, Edwards, VJ, Giles, WH. (2006) Insights Into Intimate Partner Violence From the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. In PR Salber and E Taliaferro, eds. The Physician’s Guide to Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse, Volcano, CA: Volcano Press; 2006.

What causes Abuse?

The causes of interpersonal abuse are complex and overlapping. However, the following are widely regarded to be some of the most important factors:

• Early learning experiences: This factor is sometimes described as the “life cycle” of abuse. Many abusive parents were themselves abused as children and have learned to see hurtful behavior as normal childrearing. At the other end of the life cycle, some adults who abuse their elderly parent are paying back the parent for abusing them in their early years.
• Ignorance of developmental timetables: Some parents have unrealistic expectations of children in terms of the appropriate age for toilet training, feeding themselves, and similar milestones, and attack their children for not meeting these expectations.
• Economic stress: Many caregivers cannot afford part-time day care for children or dependent elderly parents, which would relieve some of their emotional strain. Even middle-class families can be financially stressed if they find themselves responsible for the costs of caring for elderly parents before their own children are financially independent.
• Lack of social support or social resources: Caregivers who have the support of an extended family, religious group, or close friends and neighbors are less likely to lose their self-control under stress.
• Substance abuse: Alcohol and mood-altering drugs do not cause abuse directly, but they weaken or remove a person’s inhibitions against violence toward others. In addition, the cost of a drug habit often gives a substance addict another reason for resenting the needs of the dependent person. A majority of workplace bullies are substance addicts.
• Mental disorders: Depression, personality disorders, dissociative disorders, and anxiety disorders can all affect parents’ ability to care for their children appropriately. A small percentage of abusive parents or spouses are psychotic.
• Belief systems: Many men still think that they have a “right” to a relationship with a woman; and many people regard parents’ rights over children as absolute.
• The role of bystanders: Research in the social sciences has shown that one factor that encourages abusers to continue their hurtful behavior is discovering that people who know about or suspect the abuse are reluctant to get involved. In most cases, bystanders are afraid of possible physical, social, or legal consequences for reporting abuse. The result, however, is that many abusers come to see themselves as invulnerable.

Domestic violence against men study

The recent report from Scotland provides no new information for those familiar with the issue of domestic violence against men. Many of the more recent studies and research has found that male victims make up a significant amount of the victims of domestic violence, but the lack of support services, anti-male bias in the support community and cultural bias against male victims keeps men silent.

This does not often sit well with the domestic violence community, and several within the community are quick to dismiss any findings of high rates of violence against men. However, what the Scotland research showed is difficult to deny:

Interviewees were asked about their experience of physical or psychological partner abuse both since the age of 16 and within the preceding 12 months. The findings included:

• 18% of adults who had had at least one partner since the age of 16 reported having experienced at least one form of partner abuse. The figure for women was 20.9% and for men 15.3%.

• However, in the most recent 12 months the figure for both men and women was 5%.

• The data for the last 12 months showed that young men aged 16-24 experienced physical and/or psychological abuse more often than young women and more often than any other demographic group.

• For persons experiencing partner abuse in the last 12 months, 48% of the perpetrators were male and 45% were female.

• Police came to know about 35% of incidents of partner abuse reported by women in the preceding 12 months but only 8% of incidents in which a man was on the receiving end. 40% of men told no-one compared to 21% of women.

Again, there are those who would dismiss those findings. However, the problem with the research the domestic violence community prefers is that the language of some of those studies portrays the respondents as victims, and many men do not view themselves as victims. Part of this is because of the cultural narrative that women cannot hurt men, but part of it comes from the domestic violence community itself and its framing of domestic violence as a man-on-woman only crime. Nevertheless, the language issue can seriously impact the results of a study. As was noted in the article:

[John Forsyth said,]“The research has to be commended for its rigour. When asked whether they had been subject to domestic abuse since the age of 16, only 3% of men and 14% of women said yes. However, when asked to report specific conduct by a partner that falls within the definition of partner abuse, the number for men rose 5 times to 15% and for women by half to 20.9%. This is hardly surprising given the tens of millions that has been spent by successive Scottish administrations on campaigns, support services and organisations targeted at women, encouraging them to recognise and report domestic abuse. In the same period precisely nothing has been spent on efforts to encourage men to recognise and report domestic abuse.”

My emphasis. The shift in the reporting rate shows how damaging ignoring male victimization can be and specifically why domestic violence should not be presented as a crime against women. As more research is done and as more male victims come forward, it is beginning to appear that the actual rates of violence between men and women is not significantly different.

There is no harm in acknowledging that, but there is harm in not acknowledging male victims. Maintaining the double standard established by the domestic violence community leads to instances in which women who violently assault their male partners get slaps on the wrist even as the judge acknowledges the double standard at play. One constantly hears there is never an excuse for violence against women, yet the narrative coming from those same people is that violence against men is minimal, unimportant and excusable. Numbers like those above contradict those notions and organizations like The One in Three Campaign can help fight for the recognition of male victims.

Child abuse linked to adult pain related disorders

According to the researchers, their study and others have found stress caused by abuse can alter children’s brains, making them more likely to develop chronic pain from such conditions as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis and arthritis.

“Stressful events in childhood, such as abuse, can alter the body’s stress response permanently and predispose to a wide variety of medical and psychiatric conditions in adulthood,” said the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Gretchen E. Tietjen, professor and chairwoman of neurology and director of the Headache Treatment and Research Program at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio.

It is not uncommon, she said, for people who’ve been abused to have a variety of debilitating conditions, including migraine.

“The linking of these comorbidities may be through abuse-mediated brain changes occurring early in life,” Tietjen said. “Understanding the physiology of abuse’s effects on the brain over the life span may lead to prevention or more effective treatment of migraine and associated conditions.”

She was quick to note, however, that not all abused children develop migraines and not everyone who suffers from migraines or any other chronic painful condition was abused.

But those with a history of abuse “are more likely to have the worst cases of migraine,” she said. “They are the ones most likely to have a lot of the other pain conditions.”

The findings are reported in the January 2010 issue of Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain.

For the study, Tietjen’s group collected data on 1,348 people with migraines who were seen at 11 outpatient headache centers. About 58% reported being physically, sexually or emotionally abused or physically or emotionally neglected during childhood. Also, 61% reported having at least one painful condition other than migraine.

Those who had been abused or neglected as children were significantly more likely to suffer from other chronic pain conditions than were people who had not been abused as children, the researchers found.

“Childhood abuse, especially emotional abuse and neglect, is very common in the population of persons seeking help for headache,” Tietjen said. “Childhood abuse is linked to high frequency of headache in adults, and to headache-related disability. Persons with migraine who have been abused are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and from chronic stress-related pain conditions.”

The researchers noted that different types of abuse appeared to result in different conditions. For example, physical abuse was linked with arthritis, whereas emotional abuse was associated with irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and arthritis, Tietjen said.

Physical neglect was linked to an increased likelihood of irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, interstitial cystitis and arthritis.

Women who suffered physical abuse or neglect as children were also more likely to have endometriosis and uterine fibroids. Emotional abuse was linked to both conditions as well, but emotional neglect was associated with uterine fibroids alone, the study found.

Dr. Walter Lambert, an associate professor and medical director of the child protection team at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that “adverse childhood events have significant long-term health risks in adulthood.”

“It does not surprise me that people who reported emotional abuses would have more chronic headaches and migraines,” he added.

Lambert also agreed that stress in childhood can change pathways in the brain, with neglect being the worst. Children can take only so much stress before it begins to affect their growing brain, he explained.

“As human beings,” Lambert said, “we need nurturing — both physical nurturing and emotional nurturing — to flourish.” Society needs to find ways to promote nurturing and stable environments for children to prevent maltreatment, he added.

Abuse linked to osteoarthritis???

Adults who had experienced physical abuse as children have 56% higher odds of osteoarthritis compared to those who have not been abused, according to a study by University of Toronto researchers.

University of Toronto researchers investigated the relationship between self-reported childhood physical abuse and a diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA). After analyzing representative data from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey, the researchers determined a significant association between childhood physical abuse and osteoarthritis in adulthood.

The study is published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

Osteoarthritis is an often debilitating chronic condition that affects millions of adults. “We found that 10.2% of those with osteoarthritis reported they had been physically abused as children in comparison to 6.5% of those without osteoarthritis,” says lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson of U of T’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Department of Family and Community Medicine. “This study provides further support for the need to investigate the possible role that childhood abuse plays in the development of chronic illness.”

Co-author Sarah Brennenstuhl, a doctoral student at the University of Toronto, stated that, “We were surprised that the significant association between childhood physical abuse and osteoarthritis persisted even after controlling for major potentially confounding factors such as obesity, physical activity levels as well as age, gender, income and race.”

According to Fuller-Thomson, one important avenue for future research is to investigate the pathways through which arthritis may develop as a consequence of childhood physical abuse.

Interesting reading on similar topic – The Body Never Lies

why do people with PTSD often have sleeping problems?

There are many reasons why people with PTSD may have trouble sleeping:

Changes in your brain:

PTSD can cause changes in the brain making it difficult to sleep. Many people with PTSD may feel they need to be on guard or “on the lookout,” to protect him or herself from danger. It is difficult to have restful sleep when you feel the need to be always alert.
Medical Problems:

There are medical problems that are commonly found in people with PTSD such as chronic pain, stomach problems, and pelvic-area problems in women. They physical problems can make going to sleep difficult.

Your Thoughts:

Your thoughts can make it difficult to fall asleep. People with PTSD often worry about general problems or worry that they are in danger. If you have not been able to sleep for several nights (or even weeks), you may start to worry that you won’t be able to fall asleep. These thoughts can keep you awake.

Drugs or Alcohol:

Some people with PTSD use drugs or alcohol to help them cope with their symptoms. Drinking and using drugs can make it more difficult to fall asleep.

Upsetting Dreams or Nightmares:

Nightmares are common for people with PTSD. Nightmares can wake you up in the middle of the night, making your sleep less restful. Or, you may find it difficult to fall asleep because you are afraid you might have a nightmare.

Hearing a Noise:

Many people with PTSD wake up easily if they hear a noise. You may feel that you need to get up and check your room to make sure you are safe.

Physical abuse

Physical abuse can be understood to include any behaviour which causes actual physical harm to the victim, is designed to do so, or a threat to do so.

Physical abuse can include the following:

* slapping,
* kicking,
* shoving,
* choking,
* pinching,
* forced feeding,
* pulling hair,
* punching,
* throwing things,
* burning (eg with a cigarette),
* beating,
* strangling,
* use of weapons (gun, knives, or any object)
* physical restraint – pinning against wall, floor, bed, etc.
* reckless driving, etc.

Many survivors of physical abuse have reported that the physical abuse started very small, with just a slap or a push, but that it got progressively more violent as time went by. Also, even so-called ‘small’ acts of physical violence can have devastating effects on the victim, as they then live in fear of the same – or worse – happening again.