Från tystnad till dialog : En kvalitativ studie om kvinnors upplevelser av mötet med professionella efter utsatthet av psykiskt våld

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the study is to investigate women’s experiences with psychological violence in intimate partner relationships in order to understand how they view their situation based on interactions with their environment and authority representatives. By highlighting this subject, the ambition was to expand knowledge to professionals who meet women in the targeted group, due to knowledge gaps and lack of awareness among professionals regarding how psychological violence affects women. A qualitative approach was used by reading seven autobiographies by women with experience with psychological violence to capture the women’s subjective experiences. The results were analyzed through content analysis which means that common themes were selected from each autobiography by a reading schedule to form a coding scheme. The results showed that the women were exposed to psychological violence in the form of controlling behaviors, isolation and the violence was alternated with warmth and love. The women share experiences regarding the expression and consequences of the psychological violence, while they share differences about interactions with the environment and authorities that contain both positive and negative experiences. The environment was shown to be vital for the woman's opportunities to leave the violent relationship. However, dilemmas may arise for friends and family to help the woman because they may feel codependent, which results in them feeling hopeless. This concludes that professionals and the women’s environment need more knowledge regarding how psychological violence manifests itself, its consequences and how the women normalizes the violence in order to understand the women’s conditions and help them break free from factors that are maintaining the violence. KEY WORDS: psychological abuse, intimate partner violence, effects on mental health, help seeking, men’s violence against women, professional approach