Power and control in abusive relationships

Power and control in abusive relationships (or coercive control or controlling behaviour) is the way that abusers gain and maintain control over a victim for an abusive purpose such as psychological, physical and sexual abuse. Controlling abusers use multiple tactics to exert power and control over their partners. The goal of the abuser is to control and intimidate the victim or to influence them to feel that they do not have an equal voice in the relationship.Manipulators and abusers control their victims with a range of tactics, including positive reinforcement (such as praise and gifts), negative reinforcement, intermittent or partial reinforcement, psychological punishment (such as nagging, silent treatment, swearing, guilt trips) and traumatic tactics (such as verbal abuse or explosive anger).Traumatic bonding can occur between the abuser and victim as the result of ongoing cycles of abuse in which the intermittent reinforcement of reward and punishment creates powerful emotional bonds that are resistant to change.

Isolation, gaslighting and other strategies are also often used to facilitate power and control over someone for an abusive purpose.

In the study of personality psychology, certain personality disorders display characteristics involving the need to gain compliance or control over others:

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