Question

Explain how an abused person becomes an abuser.

Answer 1

An abused person is the person who has suffered the harmful effects of another person’s impulse, need for dominance, and the need to exercise power. Abuse is the misuse of a person. Such abuse has been common in society for a long period of time. The person abusing his or her victim is called the abuser. Abuse adversely affects the physical and mental health of the victim. Abuse crashes a victim’s self-confidence, self-esteem, a sense of worth, and the sense of self. The abused victim starts perceiving himself or herself as an insignificant or a trivial human being. The detrimental effects of abuse on the victim can manifest in different aspects of a person’s life. The person may start suffering financially and socially, apart from being affected physically and emotionally. For example, if depression sets in due to the feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness it will be difficult for the person to focus adequately on his or her work, thereby adversely affecting him financially. Such a person can also be withdrawn socially due to depression, thereby reinforcing depression in him or her by being isolated or alone.

Such a terrible condition of the victim may gradually poison his or her life, thereby prompting him or her to commit suicide. All these possible situations often prompt a surviving abuser to retaliate against the abuser. These retaliations seem morally sensible to the abused person as something wrong happened with the person. The abused person did not himself or herself commit something wrong. Such rationalizations motivate the abused person to abuse in return. The victim starts perceiving abuse as a legitimate punishment, due to be suffered by the abuser. The abuser is envisioned as a “deserver” of punishment. This is how an abused person becomes an abuser.