Family and domestic violence
- For information on recognising signs of abuse, or for help and support for people experiencing violence and abuse call 1800 RESPECT or visit the 1800Respect website (external site).
What is family and domestic violence?
Family and domestic violence (FDV) is a pattern of ongoing, repetitive and purposeful use of physical, emotional, social, financial, technological and/or sexual abuse used to intimidate and instil fear. Such behaviour enables the one person to control and have power over another person in an ‘intimate’ or family relationship.
It is behaviour which results in physical, sexual and/or psychological damage, forced social isolation, economic deprivation, or behaviour which causes the victim to live in fear. The term is usually used where abuse and violence take place in intimate partner relationships including same sex relationships, between siblings, from adolescents to parents or from family carers to a relative or a relative with a disability.
Last reviewed: 02-05-2022
Acknowledgements
King Edward Memorial Hospital
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