NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Battered person syndrome

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Encyclopedia > Battered person syndrome

**Battered person syndrome**
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ICD-10	T74.1
ICD-9	995.81
ICD-O:	{{{ICDO}}}
OMIM	{{{OMIM}}}
DiseasesDB	{{{DiseasesDB}}}
MedlinePlus	{{{MedlinePlus}}}
eMedicine	{{{eMedicineSubj}}}/{{{eMedicineTopic}}}
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Battered person syndrome is a physical and psychological condition that is classified as ICD-9 code 995.81 "Battered person syndrome" NEC or otherwise included within DSM-IV as a sub-category of post-traumatic stress disorder. This condition has been used as a defence by women who have experienced long-term physical and psychological abuse, and have killed their abusers. This was called battered woman syndrome by Walker (1979). The following codes are used with International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. ... The following is a list of codes for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. ... The International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (ICD-O) is a domain specific extension of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems for tumor diseases. ... The Mendelian Inheritance in Man project is a database that catalogues all the known diseases with a genetic component, and - when possible - links them to the relevant genes in the human genome. ... The Diseases Database is a free website that provides information about the relationships between medical conditions, symptoms, and medications. ... MedlinePlus (medlineplus. ... eMedicine is an online clinical medical knowledge base that was founded in 1996. ... Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. ... Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul or mind, logos/-ology = study of) is an academic and applied field involving the study of the mind, brain, and behavior, both human and nonhuman. ... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) is a detailed description of known diseases and injuries. ... The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the handbook used most often in diagnosing mental disorders in the United States and other countries. ... Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for certain psychological consequences of exposure to, or confrontation with, stressful experiences that the person experiences as highly traumatic. ... Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause pain, injury, or other physical suffering or harm. ... Psychological abuse refers to the humiliation or intimidation of another person, but is also used to refer to the long-term effects of emotional shock. ... The battered woman defence is a formal term of art forming the basis of a legal defence representing that the person accused of an assault or murder was suffering from battered person syndrome at the material time. ...

1 Symptomology
2 Law and medicine intersection
3 References
4 See also

Symptomology

ICD9 code 995.81 [1] shows the syndrome as including "battered person/man/spouse syndrome NEC" and any person presenting with identified physical descriptors rather than psychological descriptors falls under the general heading of "Adult physical abuse", classified under "Injury and Poisoning" [2]. In lay terms, this is a reference to any person who, because of constant and severe domestic violence usually involving physical abuse by a partner, becomes depressed and unable to take any independent action that would allow him or her to escape the abuse. The condition explains why abused people often do not seek assistance from others, fight their abuser, or leave the abusive situation. Sufferers have low self-esteem, and often believe that the abuse is their fault. Such persons usually refuse to press criminal charges against their abuser, and refuse all offers of help, often becoming aggressive or abusive to others who attempt to offer assistance. Domestic violence, broadly defined, is violence within a home. ... Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause pain, injury, or other physical suffering or harm. ... In psychology, self-esteem or self-worth is a persons self-image at an emotional level; circumventing reason and logic. ...

Law and medicine intersection

Although the medical condition is not gender specific, the law has been persuaded to remedy perceived gender bias in the operation of the defence of self-defence by admitting evidence of the medical condition as the basis of an excuse for women who use excessive violence to escape from an abusive relationship and kill their abusers. This has been problematic because there is no consensus in the medical profession that such abuse results in a mental conditions severe enough to excuse alleged offenders. Nevertheless, the law makes reference to DSM-IV mental disorders even though neither the ICD nor the DSM medical classifications as currently drafted, include the syndrome in the sense used by lawyers. This article and defense of property deal with the legal concept of excused (sometimes termed justified) acts that might otherwise be illegal. ... In jurisprudence, an excuse or justification is a form of immunity which must be distinguished from an exculpation. ...

References

Roth D. L. & Coles E. M. (1995). "Battered woman syndrome: a conceptual analysis of its status vis a vis DSM-IV mental disorders". Medicine and Law. Vol. 14(7-8): pp641-658.
Walker, Lenore E. (1979). The Battered Woman. New York: Harper and Row.

Contents

Law and medicine intersection

References

See also