"Women - The Silent Victims of Ambient Abuse "

Abstract

Abuse as every one knows, is not only wife-beating or bride burning, it can take many forms. It is not confined to lower socioeconomic levels of society. Women suffer emotional abuse at every level, even in so called educated, "cultured" houses. Psychological and emotional abuse is more common here. What is worse is that many times the victims themselves are not aware that they are being abused. Among the various types of psychological abuse, I wish to concentrate on "AmbientAbuse" — a very subtle form of abuse, where the victim is hardly aware that she is being abused. She believes that everything is normal and that it is her thoughts and behavior that are at fault. In the words of Sam Vaknin, who introduced the concept, 'Ambient abuse is the stealthy, subtle, underground currents of maltreatment that sometimes go unnoticed even by the victims themselves, until it is too late. Ambient abuse penetrates and permeates everything but is difficult to pinpoint and identify. It is ambiguous, atmospheric, and diffuse. Hence its insidious and pernicious effects. It is by far the most dangerous kind of abuse there is". Ambient abuse, therefore, is the fostering, propagation, and enhancement of an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, instability, unpredictability and irritation. There are no acts of traceable explicit abuse, nor any manipulative settings of control. Yet, the irksome feeling remains, a disagreeable foreboding, a premonition, a bad omen. In the long term, such an environment erodes the victim's sense of self-worth and self-esteem. Self-confidence is shaken badly. Often, the victim adopts a paranoid or schizoid stance and thus renders himself or herself exposed even more to criticism and judgment. The roles are thus reversed: the victim is considered mentally deranged and the abuser the suffering soul. There are five categories of ambient abuse and they are often combined in the conduct of a single abuser: I. Inducing Disorientation, II. Incapacitating, Ill. Shared Psychosis , IV Abuse of Information, V Control by Proxy. The current paper explores the extent of awareness about ambient abuse prevalent in our society. A survey conducted in this area revealed the lack of knowledge about ambient abuse among women belonging to different walks of life.