Many non-domestic violence professionals and the average person on the street consider domestic violence as strictly “physical violence”. Sometimes “emotional abuse” is acknowledged as well. However, those experienced in intervention with domestic violence dynamics know there are many other tactics abusers use. The term Coercive Control with and without physical violence is becoming a more accepted term due to the comprehensive nature of domestic violence.
The term coercive control was explained in depth by Evan Stark in “Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life” in 2007. He defines coercive control as a “Pattern of oppression…an offense to liberty that prevents women from freely developing their personhood, utilizing their capacities, or practicing citizenship, consequences they experience as entrapment.” (pg. 4) Stark explained the multiple coercive control tactics through case studies to show the impact on the lives of the abused.
Coercive control dynamics are important for professionals to understand and identify when working with individuals, couples, and family therapy. These dynamics are the heart of the issues in order to create safety for the abused person and containment for the abuser. Without gaining this body of knowledge, family court professionals and mental health providers are often manipulated by the abuser to think he/she is the victim and the actual abused person is the abuser.
Intimate terrorism is the goal of coercive control “to suppress conflict or keep it from surfacing or to punish a partner for some perceived hurt or transgression, almost always by asserting the physical superiority of the person initiating the abuse” (Stark, 2007, pg. 105).
Coercive control includes:
- degradation
- humiliation
- manipulation
- restriction
by a person through ill-defined, ever changing limits to maintain power over another person (Wingfield, 2011). This ultimately results in fear of the abuser by the abused that leads to compliance to maintain physical and emotional safety.
The following terms represent different dynamics in coercive control:
- Inequality in the relationship by leveraging the dominance of one partner over the other
- Suppression of liberties
- Entrapment
- Hostage-taking, that can lead to Stockholm syndrome
- Use of force on an emotional level as opposed to physical use of force to gain control and power over a victim (Wingfield, 2011)
Coercive control is used as a means to restrict partners to remain within a certain set of limits without the use of physical force. Coercive control uses multiple tactics designed to:
- restrict movements
- restrict behaviors
- restrict thoughts
- restrict feelings
- restrict actions
- restrict economics
- restrict parenting
- restrict intimacy
- restrict spirituality
- restrict relationships
- restrict connections
- restrict autonomy
- restrict access
- restrict self-control
(Wingfield, 2011)
Abuse occurs through manipulation, purported power, omnipotence, and superiority to cover low self-esteem. (Wingfield, 2011)
Abusers exert coercive control verbally, emotionally, and mentally through gestures, degradation, mind games, humiliation, restriction, and manipulation. (Wingfield, 2011)
Coercive controllers use a set of tactics designed to manipulate, degrade, humiliate, and restrict one person by another (Wingfield, 2011). These specific tactics include:
- Intimidation
- Isolation
- Economic/Financial
- Threats
- Using Children
- Emotional Abuse
- Using Male Privilege
- Minimizing, Denying, Blaming
- Control tactics
- Spiritual abuse
- Non-physical sexual abuse
- Physical abuse
- Physical sexual abuse
(Wingfield, 2011)
Through the training courses offered by the House of Peace Virtual Training Center http://houseofpeacepubs.com, you will gain in-depth learning about domestic violence and coercive control from its’ many aspects. Professionals working in family court and mental health can explore the certificate programs offered through House of Peace Publications to obtain CEU’s.
Remember, our advocacy training courses start January 8, 2019. If you or someone you know is interested in advocating for victims of domestic violence/abuse and coercive control, check out the certificate program at http://houseofpeacepubs.com. We look forward to providing you the most up-to-date research-based training for advocates.
Peacefully,
Dr. Debra and the House of Peace Virtual Training Team
P.S. Your questions about our training programs are always welcome contact us.
P.P.S. Meet our training partner, Joy Forrest from Called to Peace Ministries, who shares her wisdom in faith-based advocacy