Physical & Emotional Abuse Support Group
Abuse is a general term for the treatment of someone that causes some kind of harm (to the abused person, to the abusers themselves, or to someone else) that is unlawful or wrongful. No one deserves abuse, period. Abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual.
VERY interesting and informative.... applies to emotional( etc ) abuse as well as physical abuse. Be sure to click where it says - excellent article ( underlined ) right after it states More magazine for a lengthy but worthwhile read.
I believe there is a definite mind/body/emotion/spirit connection and that abuse and other trauma can cause illness on all four levels. There are many who refer to disease as dis-ease and that when you heal yourself mentally, emotionally and spiritually, you will heal yourself physically.
http://nomore.org/abusive-relationships-can-affect-long-term-health/
I am not surprised at the inferences that abuse affects long term health. It's long been known that any kind of long term stress affects health. I have heard that as high as 85% of all health problems are caused or exacerbated by stress. I hadn't read those specific stats before. Kinda scary, but not surprising. Abuse, even the mildest of abuse is traumatic and trauma, especially repeated trauma, even just witnessing it has been shown to cause brain damage (shrinkage of the hippocampus).
One thing that happens when we live in abusive, toxic environments, is that we physically tighten up in order to protect ourselves from what is coming next. We live in a chronic state of fight or flight or freeze. We are constantly in emotional shock which leads to physical shock symptoms.
The good news is that we can and do recover from that stress. And that starts the minute we leave and never go back. However, that's just the first step. If we don't take other steps to heal our dis-ease(s), we not only won't get better, but we will probably also end up in one abusive relationship after another.
Setting aside for a moment the long term affects of physical & sexual abuse, I think emotional, mental and spiritual abuse can certainly cause and/or affect already existing physical diseases, IMHO, it would also affect and/or cause chronic pain, fatigue and even fibromyalgia.
IMHO, it takes a multi-pronged approach to heal ourselves. And it takes time - lots of time and gentleness and constant self-care. Some of things I am doing to heal my physical/mental/emotional/spiritual dis-ease(s) are heart centered hypnotherapy, guided imagery, meditation, daily gratitude, and breathwork.
I highly recommend two books,
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
and
The Art of Extreme Self Care by Cheryl Richardson
As for the article, IMHO, I think the stats they quote are abit optimistic. I think many women go back to a violent abuser and/or end up in future abusive relationships, especially if they don't get the right kind of help & support. I also think that there are MANY cases of abuse that are never reported by both genders.
I read some of the links provided by KP and I am glad they are taking positive steps to bring light to DV and that they are providing access to varied resources. Now, if the rest of the world would just get on board.