My sister sadly sees this first-hand all the time. She works as a counselor in a battered women's shelter, and says something like 90% of the women who come there return to their spouses. It's a vicious cycle to break.

One challenge I have with this graphic is that it doesn't define abuse. This cycle can also happen in otherwise "normal" relationships where the couple is trapped in a cycle of misunderstanding and fighting, and both share relatively equal responsibility. I think where abuse happens is when there is a clear power imbalance and asymmetric responsibility. But, that is sometimes hard for people to assess who are trapped inside it.

Twenty five years ago when I suggested to a meeting of concerned paid professionals that a 24/7 drop in centre was needed in town to break the usual cycle of "• argument, • storm out, • pub & club drinking with similarly emotional people, • stirring the flames of violence more, • return home, • pick fight, • violence ensues, • police called" I was told by the senior sergeant that the police were not interested in preventing violence and in fact would hang back before attending domestics to make sure they would have greater evidence of violence having occurred.
Their masters (government) and senior officers did not measure success in keeping the peace but in arrests, gaol time, criminals created and fines / behaviour bonds to create more manpower (a reason for increased budget management thus leading to increase in their salaries).

This is the sick world that has been created by ignorantly divisive government, bean counters and some vengeful women's rightists and of course sociopathic provocateurs.