Cycle of Violence

Here is another useful image that helps people to understand intimate partner violence. Remember, in earlier posts we highlighted the Power and Control Wheel. The image below is an example of the Cycle of Violence - it showcases how violence is cyclical in nature. There is a period of tension building, then the abuse happens, and finally there is a honeymoon period. When the couple moves through all of these stages they start over.

Here is more information about each stage:

1 - Tension Building: often this stage is characterized by anger and arguing
2 - Acute Battering: the incident of battering takes place
3 - Honeymoon Stage: forgiveness is sought and the batterer makes promises to change
Repeat.