Of the many ills plaguing our society today one very persistent and harrowing ill is Domestic Violence. Defined as a form of physical abuse on an individual by a family member domestic violence can occur in varied relationships ranging from a marriage to between siblings to between a parent and child and so on. Violence in any form is almost always unwanted but when it comes from people one holds dear to their heart and calls family it becomes a far more emotional turmoil than that of a physical one. Most often found to be occurring between spouses in a married relationship or between partners domestic violence has been known to ruin the lives of many.
Ranging in form from physical violence to assault to harassment to stalking, domestic violence can present an individual with an extremely tough situation where one needs to take a stand against somebody one is related to. Not restricted to gender, domestic violence can at times even lead to the victim losing his/her mental balance or resorting to extreme steps like suicide. Hence, an issue like domestic violence needs to be addressed at the earliest, it also requires to be handled tactfully as the stakes are high.
There can be innumerable reasons that can lead to domestic violence in a relationship. While addiction to alcohol is termed as one of the major causes, domestic violence can also be caused when either of the individual in the relationship is suffering from a mental illness. Reasons like marital discord or severe differences in opinion and personality have also known to have resulted in domestic violence. The need here is to spread awareness about domestic violence and to motivate people to faced it. Domestic violence often goes unreported as the victim is often either too mortified to report it or is living in denial. It is at such junctures that help and guidance is required and if provided appropriately these can alter the life of an individual . While many cases of domestic violence end up getting resolved in the court, there are also an increasing number of cases where partners today choose to go for options like counselling to overcome this social evil.
Domestic violence often springs up the image of a ‘hapless women’ in our minds but in an age like today, domestic violence is no longer restricted to gender but has rather spread its claws far and wide, irrespective of class, gender, place or time. And if untreated and left unresolved domestic violence can often leave indelible scars in the minds of individual and hence needs immediate attention. Today, countries across the globe are coming up with various measures to curb domestic violence as well as ways in which they can assist the victims of domestic violence. Be it stricter laws in the judiciary or be it greater effort to spread awareness about domestic violence, countries are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to tackle the evil called domestic violence and in order to make these efforts bear fruits we as individuals should ensure we do our part as well.
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