The Amber Heard/Johnny Depp trial: Something important, mutual abuse!

People are plagued by the fascinating and disturbing trial of slander involving Johnny Depp and his former wife, Amber Heard. He's accusing her of slandering a writing written under her name. The evidence revealed that the address book was, in fact, written by the American Civil Freedom Union in an agreement with the organization at the time of publishing its Aquaman film. One of the main points of the case has been the accusation that the abuse between Depp and Heard was bilateral.

As you read this, the issue remains ongoing. However, both individuals have testified, supported by clips, witnesses, and other evidence, that the other is involved in physical and emotional abuse. Couple psychotherapist Dr. Laurel Anderson, testified that the couple was unstable; Depp and Heard abused each other. Anderson established that Heard started physical attacks, not self-defense, but to prevent Depp from leaving it. This would not justify Depp's abusive behavior, but it does tell of a complex dynamic that Anderson called “mutual abuse”.

The use of this term in court triggered protests by domestic violence lawyers. These arguments were largely based on the notion of the dynamic of power that there is usually a major abuser in the relationship. However, decades of psychological research conflict with these notions, which are often based on gender stereotypes.

For most violent crimes, male authors are much more than women. But for crimes among families, this dynamic changes. Examination of countries where stress is violated or emergency rooms may lose many male victims -- men tend to sub-report abuse, but when surveyed -- women generally admit that they used violence at equal levels with men. Since the 1970 ' s, evidence has shown that domestic violence is exercised by women as often as by men and is usually motivated by the same reasons, although, in line with gender stereotypes, female violence is often described as reactive to male violence. Ironically, the spread of mutual abuse makes it easier to do so.

Family violence is often accompanied by a diagnosis of the personality disorder ʹBederline (BPD), which is characterized by impulsiveness and emotional instability. A psychologist who testified in the Depp case suggested that Heard may have BPD, which is generally more common among women than in men.

In a collection of literature, psychologist Elizabeth Bates found that mutual abuse is, in fact, the most common model for couples experiencing domestic violence. This does not mean that this model is real to each situation, just that it is much more common than the general public realizes. Typically, individuals locked in this model have previous history of abuse and serious mental - health concerns: Domestic violence is often part of a larger rule of disfunction.

“Protectors” linked to violence against women may fear that accepting women abuse or mutual abuse will result in the public taking violence against women less seriously. Therefore, we need to be clear that any violence against women is punishable, and we need to keep working to reduce it. However, this observation should not conflict with the goal of reducing all domestic violence, whoever the author is.

Of course, we cannot say with certainty what happened in the Herd/Depp family. However, Anderson was right to note that mutual abuse is a real phenomenon. Failure to do so makes it more difficult, not easier, work to reduce domestic violence.

Source Layer: Psychology Today