Surely women do not enjoy being treated this way, so why don’t abused women get out? Many feel that if a victim of domestic violence really wanted to leave the relationship, she would just move on. However, as will be discussed further, the circumstances that often surround domestic violence, especially in situations where intimate terrorism is present, tend to be complex, and choosing to leave can be much more difficult, if not more lethal, than most people may realize. The suggestion that she should just leave blames any future abuse on her decision to stay; thus, the victim blaming becomes …show more content…
The theory, originally derived from Martin Seligman’s experiments with dogs, has been applied to abused women and was commonly accepted as an explanation regarding why a woman might not leave an abusive situation. In developing her concept of battered woman syndrome, psychologist Lenore Walker (2000) drew heavily on this idea. The argument is that a victim who has been repeatedly worn down both physically and emotionally by an abuser will reach a psychological state where she perceives that she is neither able nor worthy enough to escape her situation. Consequently, she loses her will to leave the relationship. Therefore, learned helplessness focuses a great deal on the psychological condition of victims, who commonly report having feelings of low self-esteem, depression, self-blame, passivity, and guilt, as well as experiences of repeated victimization, including those during childhood and