Coercive control – warning signs and where to turn for help
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Domestic abuse isn’t always physical. In fact, coercive behaviour is often at its heart. According to the latest statistics, there were 43,774 recorded offences of coercive control in England and Wales in the year ending March 2023 – a significant increase from previous years.
Coercive control is designed to harm, punish, and control victims, and can have a lasting impact on physical and mental wellbeing. Unfortunately, due to its manipulative nature, coercive control can be difficult to spot, too. So, raising awareness around coercive control has never been more important.
With that said, here’s everything you need to know about coercive control – including warning signs and where to turn for help.
Coercive control is a behaviour or pattern of behaviours that a person uses to harm, punish, control, or frighten someone. It’s a form of domestic abuse.
Coercive control is used to make people dependent on their abuser by isolating them, exploiting them, and monitoring their everyday behaviour. Many experts liken coercive control to being taken hostage. As Professor Evan Stark says, “the victim becomes captive in an unreal world created by the abuser, entrapped in a world of confusion, contradiction, and fear.”
Coercive control can occur within intimate or familial relationships – for example, a partner, parent, close friend, or other family member. It’s been recognised as a criminal offence since 2015 but, in order to be prosecuted, the abuser and victim have to be personally connected.
Most victims of coercive control are women and the large majority of perpetrators are men. For example, 97.7% of people convicted for coercive control in 2022 in England and Wales were men. However, men can also be victims.
Coercive control can take many forms. However, according to Women’s Aid, some more common examples of coercive behaviour include…
- Isolating you from family and friends
- Monitoring your time
- Depriving you of basic needs, such as food
- Repeatedly putting you down – for example, saying you’re worthless
- Controlling your finances
- Preventing you from accessing support services, such as medical care
- Controlling aspects of your everyday life, such as who you see, where you can go, and what you wear
- Making threats or intimidating you
For those experiencing coercive control, the threat of violence may feel ever present. While, coercive control doesn’t typically include physical violence, in extreme cases, it can lead to this.
Content retrieved from: https://restless.co.uk/health/healthy-mind/coercive-control-warning-signs-and-where-to-turn-for-help/.
