There are many ways that a woman who has suffered abuse or violence from a partner can be effected. She may find herself having a hard time coping with the everyday activities of life. For instance, she may be too tired or overwhelmed to take care of daily household activities. She also may become extremely irritable and impatient, neglectful, or even physically abusive toward her own children. She can also experience any number of medical problems such as frequent headaches, pain from injuries, or stomach/digestive system disorders as well as mental health conditions like anxiety and panic attacks, depression, or post traumatic stress disorder.

Some other common consequences are:

Low Self-esteem
An abuser uses violence and other forms of abuse to diminish and degrade his wife. As a result, an assualted woman often develops low self-esteem. She may feel worthless, mistrust or devalue her thoughts and feelings, or even loathe herself. This may lead to her feeling like she deserves the abuse which, of course, is not true. Low self-esteem can also cause depression which can also compound many other effects and aspects of the abuse.

Feelings of Helplessness
In abusive relationships, the abusive man maintain control of his partner's actions by physically, sexually, and psychologically abusing her. If the assaulted woman tries to regain some control, the abuser may become more controlling. Her repeated unsuccessful attempts at stopping his violence reinforce her feelings of helplessness. As a result the assaulted woman may give up all hope of trying to break the cycle of violence.

Self-blame & Guilt
Many women are used to looking after the emotional needs of their family. When the emotional well-being of the family is suffering, as it does when abuse is present, the woman tends to blame herself and tends to believe she fails in her role to look after her family. Some women have hidden the abuse for years because of the guilt and shame they feel. The partners usually encourage this thinking by blaming her for the abuse. This results in the women falsely believing she has failed as emotional caretaker and that she causes and deserves the abuse.

Denying or Minimizing
Abused women frequently deny being victims of wife assault and that a pattern of abused has been established. A false sense of responsibility for the violence and embarrassment prevents her from telling others about it. Other excuses can be made to explain away the violence and to renew hope for the relationship.

Minimizing abuse downplays its seriousness. Often women avoid accepting the reality that they are being abused by comparing themselves to others who have endure more extreme acts of physical and psychological abuse. Their own situations then seem much less serious and much less dangerous.

Denying and minimizing abuse are two ways of coping with his violence, although they are ineffective. They increase the danger already present by encouraging the victim to disregard signals which can warn her of further assaults.

Drug & Alcohol Abuse
Victims of wife assault suffer from stress and tension. Many abused women turn to drugs and alcohol to avoid confronting their abusive situations. Continued use of these substances lead to dependency for many women. Substance abuse adds to the assaulted woman's problem. The abused woman who tries to deal effectively with her substance dependence and her violent situation at the same time is easily overwhelmed.

Alcohol and illegal drugs are obvious examples of abused substances, but abuse of drugs given by doctors accounts for much of the substance abuse among women who experienced violence. Sleeping pills, pain killers and tranquilizers are the more commonly abused prescription drugs.