The devastating consequences of coercive control – an insidious form of abuse now criminal across much of Australia – routinely make shocking headlines.
Yet the deeper psychology of how it happens – and continues, sometimes for years – remains poorly understood. Now a UNE School of Psychology Honours student is seeking to lift the veil on the impact of coercive control on women, to help victim-survivors better identify the signs and receive the support they need.
Having witnessed women go through controlling relationships, Julia Parkin is keen to understand the problematic behavioural patterns, the impacts they can have and why such relationships endure.
“Coercive control is a chronic pattern of behaviour, where the abuser subtly uses privileged knowledge to degrade, deprive, isolate, intimidate, manipulate and entrap their partner in order to maintain dominance,” says Julia. “Victim-survivors commonly feel unable to leave and may defend their abuser or minimise abusive treatment, further complicating the identification, prevention and treatment of coercive control. My study will explore the psychological mechanisms that lead victim-survivors to become psychologically captive within a relationship.”
Victim-survivors commonly feel unable to leave and may defend their abuser or minimise abusive treatment, further complicating the identification, prevention and treatment of coercive control.
Paradoxically, some victims may adopt a survival mechanism known as “trauma bonding” or “trauma-coerced attachment”, whereby, despite their fears, they become dependent on their abuser. Understanding this better, Julia believes, could lead to improved identification of coercive control and therefore more effective intervention and even prevention.
Coercive control – a pattern of manipulative behaviours (typically psychological, emotional, financial and even cultural) – is often subtle and covert. It may coincide with physical and sexual abuse and is implicated in most domestic violence cases and intimate partner homicide. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare:
*1 in 4 (23% or 2.3 million) women and 1 in 14 (7.3% or 693,000) men have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner since the age of 15;
*23% of women and 14% (1.3 million) of men have experienced emotional abuse by a current or previous partner; and
*16% (1.6 million) of women and 7.8% (745,000) of men have experienced economic abuse from a current or previous partner.
While it can happen in any relationship, coercive control is predominantly experienced by women and perpetrated by men. It can include isolating the individual from their support system, surveillance, gaslighting, shaming and degrading behaviour, financial abuse and the denial of freedom and autonomy.
Julia’s supervisor, Associate Professor Liz Temple, says the research comes at a time of growing societal concern.
“We need research such as this to illuminate what’s happening and to gather data, so we can provide more targeted clinical support for women, to keep them safe,” she says. “Most psychologists are now female but most psychological theories are still developed by men, meaning that women’s lived experiences are still under researched and not well understood. There is still a lot of emphasis on ‘why didn’t she leave?’. Our future psychologists need to understand these dynamics and have the tools to help victim-survivors.”
Julia hopes her findings will improve community awareness of behaviour that in some cases is normalised, and that this eventually translates into improved legal outcomes.
“Coercive control is far too common and much more common than we realise because it happens behind closed doors,” she says. “When we think about what kinds of behaviours are being encouraged in the manosphere, it’s really important that we highlight what’s actually going on. We can empower women, through this information, and avoid enabling perpetrators.”
Coercive control is far too common and much more common than we realise because it happens behind closed doors.
Julia is inviting women who have experienced coercive control or problematic patterns of behaviour in previous intimate partner relationships with men to complete her online survey. For more information, go to https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2fr7OM3lyKqf40u
