Women and children who survive domestic  violence have developed coping skills that allow  them to endure the abuse until they can escape. These skills allow them to suspend their feelings  so that they can deal with the day-to-day trauma of a violence filled life.

Denial: The victim tells herself that the abuse really isn't happening. This helps  her to avoid feelings of terror and humiliation and also avoid feeling angry, which may be dangerous for her to express.

Minimization: The victim minimizes the violence by saying "he only  hits me sometimes" or "it really wasn't  that bad". This helps the victim to avoid making decisions which might be dangerous, especially if she has no immediate plan in place for escaping the abuse.

Anger: Anger helps the victim to  take strong action in an emergency.

Nightmares: These help the victim to experience strong feelings that she  cannot share with others.

Shock & Dislocation: These  reactions numb the victim's mind and body while the assault takes place and for a time afterward.