What is vicarious violence? Causes and symptoms

A type of indirect violence suffered by the most vulnerable: children.

Abuse and domestic violence wreak havoc on the victim, both physically and psychologically, whether the victim is a woman or a man. But violence does not only affect the partners.

When children are involved, they suffer both from the observation of the abuse of those close to them and, in many cases, from direct or indirect violence applied against them. Some of them are even physically or psychologically assaulted with the purpose of harming the other component of the relationship. What these children are suffering is called vicarious violence..

What does 'vicarious' mean?

The concept of vicarious refers to the substitution or replacement of one individual by another in the exercise of a function or in the experience of a situation. An example that is easy to understand can be seen in vicarious learning, in which one learns from the observation of acts carried out by other people and their consequences.

Once the concept is understood, it is understood that vicarious violence is defined as situations in which some type of aggression is going to be carried out. some type of aggression will be carried out on a person or in substitution of another person, which would be the real target, or collaterally.or in a collateral manner. The motivation is usually associated with revenge.

In practice, this occurs mainly in the family context, and that is why it is generally considered to be a form of domestic violence. Particularly serious are the cases of those who harm their sons or daughters in order to harm an ex, a phenomenon that has even given rise to scandals such as the murder of children at the hands of their father or mother.

On the other hand, there is a widespread misconception that vicarious violence is a form of male violence or that it is only carried out by men who harm their son or daughter to harm the mother. or that it is only carried out by men who harm their son or daughter to harm the mother. This is not the case: by definition, vicarious violence does not understand gender, regardless of whether it is statistically more prevalent in one sector of the population or another.

It is clear that gender violence is one of the scourges still present in today's society, but it is not entirely clear that fathers are the main perpetrators when it comes to attacking their children with this vindictive purpose; there is a lack of information on the subject, and taking into account that the people who spend most of their time with their children tend to be women, vicarious violence could be more present in both men and women; neither hypothesis is far-fetched.

Vicarious violence: what it is and why it occurs

Vicarious violence is a type of intrafamilial violence that includes all conduct carried out consciously to cause harm to another person, exercised in a secondary manner to the main one. Such violence is usually a form of child abuse that can range from the visualization and witnessing by the child of aggressions by one of his or her family members against another or by the suffering of direct aggressions as a method to cause harm.

In many cases the son or daughter is used in an instrumental way with the aim of harming the real target of the violencethe partner. The abuser takes advantage of the fragility of the children, violating and undermining their physical or psychological integrity in order to psychologically harm his or her partner, awakening in her suffering, Pain and a sense of guilt at not being able to defend the persons dearest to the victim.

Vicarious violence or the threat of it is also used as a mechanism of coercion and control of the adult victim.Vicarious violence or the threat of it is also used as a mechanism of coercion and control towards the adult victim: with the knowledge of what the aggressor is capable of, the spouse or child is forced to give in to the other's pretensions and desires, and in addition, with the fear that the children will be assaulted, the adult victim has fewer options to denounce, seek help or do anything that would put them at risk.

This type of domestic violence can occur in multiple ways, both at the level of psychological abuse, deprivation of basic needs, physical abuse and even sexual abuse. In some cases this type of violence can lead to the death of the child, either in the form of homicide or homicide.either in the form of homicide or premeditated murder.

Profile of the aggressor

Although the trigger of the aggressions can be very different depending on the case, in many cases behind vicarious violence may lie a deep sense of inferiority and lack of self-worth.These generate frustration in the abuser that is aggressively discharged through violence against others. As with other forms of domestic violence, it is believed that it is usually men between twenty and fifty years of age, although there are also cases in which the aggressor is a woman.

In most cases, the aggressor tends to seek dominance and the exercise of power through the submission of both his partner and the children, feeling like an authoritarian figure and enjoying obedience and control of the situation in an attempt to compensate for his insecurities. Sometimes violent behaviors may be aggravated or triggered during states of drunkenness or altered consciousness. or alterations of consciousness.

Effects on the child

The suffering of this type of violence will generate a series of physical and psychological effects on the child that will deeply mark most areas of his or her life, causing a series of serious damages in his or her development. that will deeply mark the great majority of vital areas, provoking a series of serious damages in their development.

First of all, one of the most immediate effects can be observed when the abuse occurs at a physical level. The aggressions that the child may suffer may involve severe injuries that may require hospitalization and may even lead to disability (depending on the areas that are injured) or even death.

At the psychological level, self-esteem and self-concept can be severely damaged. As a general rule, there is a deterioration of the attention and concentration capacity, a drop in academic performance and a high level of demotivation. Post-traumatic stress disorders are frequent, with reminiscences of the aggressions, avoidance of situations reminiscent of the abuse and a high level of physiological activation. It is not uncommon for anxiety or mood disorders such as depression to appear. Fear and anhedonia are frequent symptoms that can even alert the social environment that the child is suffering some type of abuse. Suicide attempts at some point in the life cycle, including childhood, are not uncommon.

At the emotional level the acquisition of social skills, the emergence of empathy and self-control problems are greatly hindered.. This also favors the appearance in the future of different psychotic disorders or antisocial, aggressive and psychopathic behaviors.

At the social level, these minors tend to develop attitudes of great distrust in their interpersonal relationships, making emotional bonds with third parties more complex. All this results from the violation and abuse to which they have been subjected, especially aggravated by the fact that the aggressor is a significant and close figure. The fact that there is an emotional bond makes it more complicated for them to report or take other types of action. It is also possible that the maltreatment visualized or suffered is dissociated from the rest of the experience, maintaining a relatively normal social life outside the home as a compensation mechanism. It is not uncommon to develop attitudes of overprotection towards the most significant persons in order to prevent them from suffering the same suffering as they did.

Finally, the vicarious violence to which they have been subjected can cause the affected minors to acquire the patterns of behavior that they have been able to observe, generating a vicarious learning of the situation in which they may eventually replicate the maltreatment as they are accustomed to it and consider violence in the family and intimate partner as normal behavior.

Treatment

The treatment of this phenomenon should be approached from a multidisciplinary perspective, in which social, health, educational, administrative and judicial services work together. To this end, several protocols have been drawn up for action in cases of child abuse in the family environment.

The legislation in force must guarantee the child who suffers or witnesses abuse the right to the provision of assistance services. The aim is to provide assistance to meet the needs derived from the situation of violence, being in both cases a victim of domestic violence and requiring the prevention of new situations that may cause physical or psychological damage. In this aspect, it is essential to detect and report cases of abuse, which is why different observation protocols have been established in institutions such as hospitals and schools.

At the psychological level, it is necessary to work from the psychological point of view with the victims of aggressions, both with the affected minors and with adults, regardless of whether they have been witnesses or have also suffered aggressions. The need to give an explanation to the situation will produce a deep frustration that they must be able to express, and it is also necessary to work with the cognitions and emotions caused by the mistreatment.

To collaborate in the processing of the suffered situation, favoring and promoting a realistic self-concept, avoiding behavioral avoidance and eliminating the self-blame typical of a large number of victims are common therapeutic objectives. of a large number of victims are common therapeutic objectives, which should be undertaken by validating the feelings of the individuals and accepting them unconditionally.

With respect to the abuser, apart from the legal consequences of his or her actions and the preventive measures imposed (such as a restraining order), various rehabilitation therapies have been developed that aim to modify abusive behaviors and improve frustration management through behavior modification techniques and other cognitive and emotional techniques.