‘Coercive control left me a prisoner in my own home - here’s how to spot the signs’

ok.co.uk:

While domestic abuse can often include violence, this doesn’t always mean physical harm. In some instances, it can appear, from the outside, to be entirely 'invisible' – but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

Emotional abuse can happen to anyone, with high-profile women such as Reese Witherspoon, Mariah Carey and Fearne Cotton all having spoken out about it.

Referring to a pattern of behaviour used to harm or frighten an individual, coercive control can occur in both family and intimate relationships. “It’s defined as ‘a purposeful pattern of behaviour which takes place over time in order for one individual to exert power, control or coercion over another,’” says Sarika Seshadri, head of research and evaluation at Women’s Aid. “This form of abuse is designed to make a person dependent on their abuser.” After being made a criminal offence as part of the Serious Crime Act 2015 of England and Wales, 33,954 offences were recorded by the police between April 2020 and March 2021 – up from 9,053 in 2018.

However, public understanding is far from widespread. A study by Vodafone and domestic abuse charity Hestia found that 43% of British adults have poor or non-existent knowledge of the issue, yet in a poll of more than 3,300 people in the UK, BBC News and YouGov found a third of women aged 25 to 64 had experienced controlling behaviour.