25% of men and one third of women experience abuse from a partner

Shannon Carpenter, CNN- For eight years, I investigated abuse against the aged and disabled as part of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ Adult Protective Services, partner to the department’s better-known Child Protective Services. And, like those who try to help abused children, I saw the worst humanity had to offer other adults.

I know the statistics by heart. It takes, on average, seven interventions before an abused partner leaves the relationship. More than 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will experience some form of violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

However, those statistics may be underreported for men, according to Dr. Grey Endres, an associate professor of social work at Missouri Western State University and special consultant to Newhouse KC, a domestic violence shelter in Kansas City, Missouri.

“Oftentimes, there has been less reporting of male abuse, so the statistics are not correct,” Endres told me. “Shame is binding.” More