Domestic Violence

I just finished reading an article online about domestic violence. It said that CDC reported that a quarter of American women suffered from domestic violence. A quarter! That is one fourth of the people you know, at least you could look at it that way.
This subject has been on my mind a lot lately especially in regard to emotional and verbal abuse. People tend to think that when it is "only" verbal or emotional, it is not domestic violence. Besides the fact that it leads to actual physical violence a lot of the time, it is very harmful on it's own.
The article I read was on Reuters and it was written by Will Dunham. He wrote that the CDC stated that 23.6 percent of women and 11.5 percent of men reported being a victim of "intimate partner violence" at some time in their lives. Rita Smith of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence was also quoted as saying, " that living in a dangerous and stressful environment has long-term health impacts, it's like living in a war zone."
The CDC report seems to fit in with other assessments that about one third to one fourth of women in the states experience domestic violence. Those are very scary figures.
I hope more attention will continue to be drawn to this subject and that more people will come to realize that just because someone did not hit you does not mean it is not abuse. Sticks and stones do break bones and words will hurt you.