The psychological entrapment of partner abuse

People who are targets of partner abuse struggle to reconcile dissonance: They seek the security of an intimate bond while experiencing harm from their partner. It is difficult to uncouple under any circumstances. However, abusers' tactics function to foster unworthiness, self-doubt, and diminished capacity to assess the tradeoffs between relationship-vs self-preservation, thereby increasing a target's dependence and entrapment. When leaving is untenable, targets may regulate abuse by redefining or reframing it - by reinterpreting, downplaying, minimizing, justifying, normalizing a partner's behavior. We present a framework for understanding how and why targets regulate partner abuse. Identifying the signature patterns of redefining and reframing abuse can inform support and intervention efforts aimed at addressing a target's momentary and longterm psychological needs.