ome to explain why statistics indicate that battered women increase their help seeking behavior as the violence escalates. The theory is composed of four important elements. The first recognizes that battered women actively seek help throughout their relationship with the abuser. The second element posits that a lack of options, know-how and finances creates anxiety in the victim over leaving her batterer. The third element describes the inadequate and piecemeal help the victim receives. Finally, the fourth element concludes that the failure of help sources, not learned helplessness, accounts for why many battered women remain with their abusers. Under the survivor theory, the best method for helping battered women is to increase funding for battered women's assistance programs and agencies and educate the public about the harmful effects of domestic abuse.III. Battered Women's Syndrome Equals Post Traumatic Stress DisorderAlthough the DSM-IV does not recognize battered women's syndrome as a distinct mental illness or disorder, some experts maintain that battered women's syndrome is just another name for post traumatic stress disorder, which the DSM-IV recognizes. The post traumatic stress disorder theory is also applied to individuals who were never exposed to domestic abuse, and, in the domestic abuse ambit, does not exclusively focus on the battered woman's perception of helplessness or ineffective help sources to explain why she stayed with her batterer. Instead, the theory focuses on the psychological disturbance an individual suffers after exposure to a traumatic event.In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association added the post traumatic stress disorder classification to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III, a manual used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental illness. Although the diagnosis was controversial at the time, post traumatic stress disorder has gained wide acceptance in the mental h...
