Domestic Violence and Panic Attacks--Common Neural Mechanisms?

• NCJ Number: 215569
• Journal: Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 267-282
• Author(s): Ian J. Mitchell; Elizabeth Gilchrist
• Date Published: September 2006
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This paper explores the possibility that some incidents of domestic violence may result as a product of a panic attack-like process or an operation of primitive defense mechanisms.

Abstract

Not all acts of domestic violence will involve panic-like, highly affective, actions. It was hypothesized that a specific subgroup of perpetrators would show this pattern of offending. Showing hostile dependency, fear of abandonment, and anxiety about the possibility of narcissistic injury the offenders should display a tendency to misinterpret their own physiological responses to anxiety such that they become a source of anxiety in their own right. Some of these proposed mechanistic accounts of domestic violence have been interpreted by some as excusing the behavior of the offender. However, the midbrain affective defense mechanisms are under forebrain control, in which the responsibility for maintaining that control lies with the perpetrator, especially in relation to alcohol consumption. It is suggested that structural features set the conditions in which male to female domestic violence occurs. Positive individual features control that behavior in most men, while negative individual features exacerbate the risk of abusive behavior by breaking these controls. Establishing the relationships between domestic violence and panic attack, in conjunction with defining the subgroup of offenders involved, could enable far-reaching changes in treatment strategies. Many explanations of domestic violence have been derived from a broad sociological and sociocultural arena and tend to steer away from explanations of the behavior of individuals. This paper combines material from domestic violence, animal aggression, and neuropsychology research to construct a model to account for some domestic violence offending. It is hypothesized that some incidents of domestic violence can be understood in terms of the operation of primitive defense mechanisms, which are also implicated in panic attacks. Perceptions of threat from an intimate partner could trigger these same neuronal circuits thereby releasing violent and emotionally charged responses at the spouse. Figure, references