Battered Womens Syndrome :: essays research papers

Battered Womens Syndrome A Survey of Contemporary TheoriesDomestic strengthIn 1991, Governor William Weld modified parole regulations and permitted women to seek commutation if they could present evidence indicating they suffered from battered womens syndrome. A short while later, the Governor, citing nuptial abuse as his impetus, released seven women convicted of killing their husbands, and the Great and General accost of mum enacted Mass. Gen. L. ch. 233, 23E (1993), which permits the introduction of evidence of abuse in criminal trials. These fatal acts brought the issue of domestic abuse to the publics attention and left many Massachusetts residents, lawyers and judges struggling to define battered womens syndrome. In order to garter these individuals define battered womens syndrome, the origins and development of the three primary theories of the syndrome and recommended treatments are outline below.I. The Classical Theory of Battered Womens Syndrome and its OriginsThe Di agnostic and Statistical Manual of psychogenic Disorders (DSM-IV), known in the mental health field as the clinicians bible, does not recognize battered womens syndrome as a distinct mental disorder. In fact, Dr. Lenore Walker, the architect of the classical battered womens syndrome possibility, notes the syndrome is not an infirmity, but a theory that draws upon the principles of learned helplessness to explain why some women are inefficient to leave their abusers. Therefore, the classical battered womens syndrome theory is best regarded as an kickoff of the theory of learned helplessness and not a mental illness that afflicts abused women.The theory of learned helplessness sought to account for the resistless behavior subjects exhibited when fixed in an uncontrollable environment. In the late 60s and azoic 70s, Martin Seligman, a famous researcher in the field of psychology, conducted a serial publication of experiments in which dogs were placed in one of two types of cages . In the condition cage, henceforth referred to as the shock cage, a bell would sound and the experimenters would cable the entire floor seconds later, shocking the dog regardless of location. The last mentioned cage, however, although interchangeable in every other respect to the shock cage, contained a elflike area where the experimenters could administer no shock. Seligman observed that while the dogs in the latter cage learned to run to the nonelectrified area after a serial of shocks, the dogs in the shock cage gave up trying to escape, even when placed in the latter cage and shown that escape was possible.