Unmasking Control: Understanding the Power and Control Wheel in Domestic Abuse
When we think of domestic violence, physical injury or visible trauma often comes to mind. But for many survivors, abuse begins long before a bruise appears. It starts with control, subtle, persistent, and devastating.
To help explain this pattern, the Power and Control Wheel, created by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, Minnesota, offers a powerful visual representation of how abuse operates beyond physical violence.
At its center lies the driving force behind abusive behavior: power and control. Every tactic used by an abuser, whether it’s manipulation, threats, or humiliation, serves this singular goal.
The spokes of the wheel represent a wide range of abusive behaviors that are psychological, emotional, and economic in nature. These include:
Using coercion and threats to force decisions or maintain fear.
Intimidation through gestures, destruction of property, or using looks to instill unease.
Emotional abuse, including constant criticism, name-calling, and gaslighting.
Isolation, where the abuser cuts the victim off from friends, family, or outside support.
Minimizing, denying, and blaming, which confuses the victim and shifts responsibility.
Using children to exert guilt or manipulate.
Male (or gender-based) privilege, where the abuser claims authority or entitlement.
Economic abuse, which includes controlling finances or preventing the victim from working.
These behaviors are often subtle, happening behind closed doors and masked as concern, love, or discipline. Yet over time, they erode a person’s identity, sense of safety, and autonomy.
Surrounding these inner tactics is the outer ring of the wheel, which represents physical and sexual violence. These acts often escalate as the abuser seeks to maintain dominance and reinforce their control when other methods begin to lose effect.
What’s crucial to understand is that abuse is not about losing control, it’s about maintaining it. The behaviors outlined in the Power and Control Wheel are deliberate and strategic, used over time to create dependence, fear, and self-doubt in the survivor.
For those who have experienced these dynamics, the wheel can be validating. It names what many have lived through in silence. It also equips professionals, advocates, and allies with a clearer understanding of how domestic abuse unfolds, not just in moments of physical harm, but in the daily, relentless erosion of power and freedom.
If you or someone you know might be experiencing any of these red flags, please reach out to a trusted mentor, therapist, or coach to learn what you can do to stay safe. You can also call the National Domestic Violence Hotline anytime.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-7233.
