coping strategies and to seek help, such as flattering the batterer and turning to their families for assistance. When these sources of help prove ineffective, the battered woman seeks out other sources and employs different strategies to lessen the abuse. For example, the battered women may avoid her abuser all together and seek help from the court system. Thus, according to the survivor theory, battered women actively seek help and employ coping skills throughout the abusive relationship. In contrast, the classical theory of battered women's syndrome views women as becoming passive and helpless in the face of repeated abuse.The second element of Gondolf and Fisher's theory posits that a lack of options, know-how and finances, not learned helplessness, instills a feeling of anxiety in the victim that prevents her from escaping the abuser. When a battered woman seeks outside help, she is typically confronted with an ineffective bureaucracy, insufficient help sources and societal indifference. This lack of practical options, combined with the victim's lack of financial resources, make it likely that a battered women will stay and try to change her batterer, rather than leave and face the unknown. The classical battered women's syndrome theory differs in that it focuses on the victim's perception that escape is impossible, not on the obstacles the victim must overcome to escape.The third element expands on the first and describes how the victim actively seeks help from a variety of formal and informal help sources. For instance, an example of an informal help source would be a close friend and a formal help source would be a shelter. Gondolf and Fisher maintain that the help obtained from these sources is inadequate and piecemeal in nature. Given these inadequacies, the researchers conclude that the leaving a batterer is a difficult path for a victim to embark upon.The fourth element of the survivor theory hypothesizes that the failure of...
