Battered Womens Syndrome :: essays research papers

Battered Womens Syndrome A Survey of Contemporary Theories home(prenominal) ViolenceIn 1991, Governor William Weld modified parole regulations and permitted women to test commutation if they could present evidence indicating they suffered from battered womens syndrome. A short musical composition deeplyr, the Governor, citing spousal abuse as his impetus, released seven women convicted of killing their husbands, and the Great and oecumenic Court of Massachusetts enacted Mass. Gen. L. ch. 233, 23E (1993), which permits the introduction of evidence of abuse in venomous trials. These decisive 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 suppose to help these individuals define battered womens syndrome, the origins and development of the three primary theories of the syndrome and recommended treatments be outlined below.I. The Classical Theory of Batter ed Womens Syndrome and its OriginsThe Diagnostic and Statistical manual of arms of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), known in the kind 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 theory, notes the syndrome is not an illness, but a theory that draws upon the principles of learned helplessness to explain why some women ar unable to leave their abusers. Therefore, the classical battered womens syndrome theory is best regarded as an offshoot of the theory of learned helplessness and not a mental illness that afflicts abused women.The theory of learned helplessness sought to sexual conquest for the passive behavior subjects exhibited when placed in an uncontrollable environment. In the late 60s and early 70s, Martin Seligman, a famous researcher in the field of psychology, conducted a series of experiments in which dogs were placed in one o f two types of cages. In the former cage, henceforth referred to as the shock cage, a bell would dense and the experimenters would electrify the entire floor seconds later, shocking the dog regardless of location. The last mentioned cage, however, although similar in every other respect to the shock cage, contained a small 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 series 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.