The effects of violence in this home are no longer measured by bruises. The beatings, according to Lana, a 32-year-old woman from the southern town of Mais Al-Jabal, stopped around two years ago. Yet fear remained present in every raised voice, in the daily insults, in the hardship of survival, and in a little girl shrinking into the corner whenever the shouting begins. Here, violence no longer appears as an isolated incident, but as an entire atmosphere surrounding a mother and her two daughters, where memories of past physical abuse intertwine with economic pressure, displacement, and the absence of safety.
This testimony does not merely tell the story of a difficult marriage. It reveals how violence can change its form without truly ending. When physical abuse stops but humiliation continues, when a woman is prevented from working, and when children grow up surrounded by fear, the home transforms from a place of protection into a space where a young girl painfully asks her mother: “Why can’t we live in peace?”
Violence in Front of Children: An Impact That Extends Beyond the Moment
The two daughters were not merely witnesses. Their mother describes how her eldest daughter, Ghaya, who is nine years old, developed a constant state of fear. “Whenever her father starts shouting, she curls up in the corner of the room, covers her ears with her hands, and begins trembling.”
According to psychologists consulted by the mother, who carefully followed up on her daughters’ condition, asked questions, and sometimes brought her child to the clinic for observation and conversation, this behavior is directly linked to what the child experiences inside the home. The effects have also extended into her school life, where she struggles to integrate socially, fears interacting with classmates, and limits herself to having only one friend. The mother says, “The teachers noticed that something was wrong at home… my daughter is afraid of people.”
A child does not experience violence only through physical abuse, but through the entire atmosphere in which they live.
UNICEF reports indicate that children exposed to domestic violence suffer from anxiety, fear, and behavioral and learning disorders, even when they are not direct victims of the abuse themselves.
From Verbal Abuse to Economic Control
Over time, the violence extended beyond shouting and insults to include control over every aspect of her daily life and her ability to work. The mother attempted to resume her work as a journalist from home, but her husband refused. She explains that every attempt to work was met with psychological pressure and the deliberate creation of conflicts, until she was ultimately forced to abandon her job.
She recalls: “I used to earn 700 dollars a month, and I asked him to compensate me for losing this income, but he was unable to do so. Instead, his verbal abuse intensified rather than him taking responsibility.” Losing her job was not simply a professional setback. It became the loss of what was almost her only source of independence. Her income had given her greater freedom of movement and decision-making power, while being deprived of it increased her dependence on a harmful relationship and narrowed her choices even further.
This pattern aligns with the concept of economic violence, which includes controlling a partner’s ability to earn, use, or maintain financial resources. Research literature shows that economic violence may take the form of preventing employment, sabotaging job opportunities, or controlling financial resources, all of which reduce independence and push the victim into deeper dependency within the relationship.
In this case, verbal abuse was not separate from economic control; it was part of it. Losing her income not only worsened the family’s living conditions, but also restricted her options and made it even harder to leave the relationship, especially amid displacement, living with her husband’s family, and raising two daughters who need both financial and emotional stability.
When Children Ask: Where Is Safety?
What weighs most heavily on the mother is not the violence directed at her alone, but its accumulated impact on her two daughters. She says one of the hardest moments for her is hearing her daughter ask why she does not leave this reality, and why the family cannot live peacefully. In that question, one can see not only the child’s fear, but also an early awareness that the home is no longer a safe place. Amid the absence of stability, the two girls experience both emotional and material deprivation. The mother recounts how her daughter once pointed out that the refrigerator was empty, explaining that they sometimes had to go upstairs to the grandfather’s house just to eat. Even the smallest details have become signs of deep imbalance.
These seemingly simple questions reveal the depth of the children’s sense of insecurity. As a recent study on adverse childhood experiences explains, children do not experience violence solely through physical abuse or direct shouting, but through the entire environment surrounding them: tension, fear, lack of privacy, food insecurity, and the inability to predict what will happen next at home. The house therefore transforms from a place that should protect children into a daily source of anxiety affecting their sense of trust, their relationships with others, and their ability to learn and integrate socially.
A UNICEF report also indicates that exposure to violence inside the home, even when the child is not the direct victim, can cause severe psychological distress and negatively affect learning, self-confidence, and emotional and cognitive development. It further confirms that witnessing violence can leave a profound impact on a child’s sense of safety.
Invisible Violence… Yet Ongoing
In this case, violence is no longer tied to physical acts alone. Instead, it has evolved into a daily cycle of verbal pressure, economic hardship, and psychological tension that is difficult to break. Although the husband had previously undergone psychological therapy sessions, his worsening financial condition led him to stop treatment, which, according to the wife, negatively affected his behavior inside the home. This testimony reveals how violence can transform in form without truly ending, and how economic pressure can become a factor that deepens control within a relationship, especially when combined with verbal abuse and isolation.
This report is supported by:
