Battered person syndrome is a physical and psychological condition that is classified as ICD-9 code 995.81 "Battered person syndrome" NEC. The condition is the basis for the battered woman defense that has been used in cases of physically and psychologically abused women who have killed their abusers. The condition was first researched extensively by Lenore Walker, who used Martin Seligman's learned helplessness theory to explain why abused women stayed in destructive relationships.
Read more about Battered Person Syndrome: Diagnosis, Symptomology, Etiology, Legal History
Famous quotes containing the words battered, person and/or syndrome:
“As I confronted her, the changes grew less apparent to me, her identity stronger. She was there, in the full vigour of her personality, battered but not diminished, looking at me, speaking to me in the husky, breathy voice I remembered so well.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“For a person who is dying only eternity counts.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“Women are taught that their main goal in life is to serve others—first men, and later, children. This prescription leads to enormous problems, for it is supposed to be carried out as if women did not have needs of their own, as if one could serve others without simultaneously attending to one’s own interests and desires. Carried to its “perfection,” it produces the martyr syndrome or the smothering wife and mother.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)