Coercive control
Coercive control is an act or patterns of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.
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What is coercive control
Coercive control is a pattern of controlling behaviours that give perpetrators power over their victim. making it difficult for them to leave. Coercive control is a form of emotional abuse that can cause psychological trauma.
Coercive control might include:
- financial control of a victim’s money
- controlling the victim to get them to reduce or eliminate contact with friends and family
- Prevent the victim from going to work
- Insulting the victim
- Threats of public humiliation
- Threating self-harm
- Manipulation
- Threating children or pets
The perpetrator creates a world in which the victim is monitored and criticised. The victim’s every move is checked against an unpredictable, ever-changing, unknowable ‘rule-book’ Coercive control also includes gaslighting (a form of psychological abuse in which a victim is manipulated into doubting their own memory and sanity).