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Psychological Subjugation: The Elusive Form of Abuse

By David A. Martindale
September 02, 2017

In 1959, French & Raven, writing on The Bases of Social Power, began by stating: “The processes of power are pervasive, complex, and often disguised in our society.” In 2016, just shy of six decades later, Crossman, Hardesty, & Raffaelli published an article titled: “'He Could Scare Me Without Laying a Hand On Me': Mothers' Experiences of Nonviolent Coercive Control During Marriage and After Separation.” Both French & Raven, in alluding to processes of power that are disguised, and Crossman, et al., in addressing nonviolent coercive control, have emphasized a form of interpersonal abuse that has received inadequate attention. Mental health and legal professionals must devote more resources to studying the interpersonal dynamics of subjugation that is accomplished without resort to physical force, and the implications of these dynamics for the appropriate adjudication of custody/access disputes.

Defining Psychological Subjugation

There is nothing abstruse about one domestic partner's infliction of physical harm on the other. The methods are elementary, and the results are self-evident. Each act of physical aggression is a discrete event the outcome of which is observable. The actions that, when considered collectively, constitute psychological subjugation are continuous, and they are incorporated into the daily routines that characterize the interpersonal relationship. I hypothesize that the actions of subjugators, systematically preparing victims to tolerate being subjugated, are similar to those actions of child molesters that are referred to collectively as grooming.

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