Psychological violence and intra-family moral abuse: dynamic profiles of deviance. An Italian retrospective

The work deals with the delicate problem of psychological intra-family violence and the consequent moral and psychological abuse that is reflected on the vulnerable victims of ill treatment, who turn out to be mainly women and children. Therefore, particular attention was paid to the causes that explain the phenomenology of ill-treatment in the family and the effects that manifest themselves on the victims and their family and social relationships. The phenomenon of physical and sexual violence is frequently discussed, although, on the contrary, less attention is paid to psychological violence, which is an emerging crime in today's society and very widespread, especially among women, the protagonists of the victimisation process. It should be remembered that violence is generally not just about beatings; psychological violence is invisible, difficult to perceive because it has no obvious signs, but the effects it produces are destructive. Psychological violence is part of “gender-based violence”, an expression that indicates the set of violence of various kinds perpetrated by men against women as women.