Legal Abuse Syndrome –
Lessons from Knowing You Are in a System

by Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D.

“You are in a system.” These five words explain the nightmare that battered women encounter in divorce court. Yet, in and of themselves, these words confuse them.

More often, they think that they are just dealing with “bad” attorneys or a court that is “failing” them. But, the fact is that none of these elements actually stand on their own.

The Legal-Psychiatric Network

Yes, it’s true that many attorneys and custody evaluators and even psychologists play each other to leverage obtaining an alliance with the key to the marital estate. And often they do this without regard for the welfare of the family and its most vulnerable members—abused children and battered women.

But they do NOT act independently of each other. They represent a larger system in which each has a role, each performs a function, each is a player in the network. And what most people don’t realize is that each of these individuals is dependent on other members within the system to carry out their respective functions.

Systemic Abuse

If you have read my articles on legal abuse, you may know of my reference to the term: “systemic abuse.” Let’s first define “systemic” to understand my earlier reference to this term. The word systemic is defined as “relating to or referring to the whole organism.”

I liken systemic abuse to any systemic disease. It erodes the very elements that sustain the organism. Systemic abuse, as I see it, is the manifestation of abuse by that deemed to protect the abused. The net result: the perpetuation of domestic violence by the very systems that purport to stop it.

With Distance Comes Objectivity

As I go back and read this earlier writing excerpted above, even I realize that I was looking at the system as the “bad boys and girls not doing their job.”

How biased of me; how bruised I must have been. The truth of the matter is that in every industry there are “bad boys and girls” and there are “good boys and girls,” and they work interdependently to carry out the work of their respective industry.

Being in a System

So what this means to you, as a litigant in a divorce proceeding with a batterer, is that you must see the interconnection of the players in your divorce proceedings. As you do, you will better grasp the underlying politics that drive the course of your divorce.

For more information about divorce abuse, visit http://www.preventabusiverelationships.com/legal_domestic_abuse.php and claim your Free Instant Access to Survivor Success eInsights. Psychologist Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. helps domestic abuse survivors prevent abuse in divorce and custody cases nationwide. Copyright 2009 Jeanne King, Ph.D.

Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. – Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention

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