The Covid-19 pandemic, the two-month lockdown imposed in Bulgaria in the spring of 2020 and the ongoing anti-epidemic measures made people spend much more time in family environment with their relatives. This may sound wonderful for the families that live in peace and understanding, but for people in problematic relationship, it turns into a real nightmare. According to official statistics, in March and April this year, the number of phone calls to the National Hotline for Victims of Violence increased as compared to 2019 and in the summer of 2020 their number exceeded 250 a month.

Earlier, between 170 and 190 phone calls were made to the National Hotline for Victims of Violence a month, Milena Dimitrova from Foundation “Animus Association”, which founded this national hotline, said in an interview for Radio Bulgaria and added:

“Between March and May 2020, the number of phone calls to the National Hotline for Victims of Violence increased by 20% as compared to the same period in 2019. The increase is mainly due to the fact that victims and aggressors were together for too long. As a result, tension escalated, especially in families which had problematic relations before the beginning of the pandemic. This, in turn, does not allow the victims of domestic violence to seek and ask for help, because their contacts with relatives and other people are often subject to control. That is why we witnessed an increase in the number of e-mails we received during that period. Women need more time to call and talk to representatives of the National Hotline for Victims of Violence which is not always possible when they are live with their abuser under one roof.”

Mihaela Angelova knows what it is like to have a relationship with an aggressor. She told BNR that the invisible scars on women who experience such a relationship are often mental, emotional, economic, etc.

Therapeutist Valentina Dimitrova from a foundation providing long-term support for female victims of violence is working on a list of the first signs that may help a woman find out whether she is in relationship with an aggressor.

“For instance, this is a man who makes frequent remarks about the woman’s appearance. His remarks on how a woman should look like, how to dress or when to be at home sound like an ultimatum. Quarrels usually occur, if she comes home late. Gradually, the woman is isolated from relatives and friends under the pretext that they are not good enough. Later, little by little, everything she does and gives in the relationship is devalued and at one point the woman becomes completely subjugated to him.”

There are signals that can serve as an alarm for possible violence, psychotherapist Valentina Dimitrova says:

“This moment comes when the man stops supporting the woman, or when they do not seek solution to their financial problems anymore. Violence occurs when the woman starts feeling oppressed because of her willingness to do things she is concerned with. We can also talk about violence in cases when the man is unemployed and the woman earns the money in the family, but he is never happy and wants more and more.”

English version: Kostadin Atanasov