Lenore E. Walker

I'm so glad you're here.

I am beyond honored to have today with me Dr. Lenore Walker, who is really so prolific in the field.

There are too many things that I would have to list out about everything that you have accomplished in your career.

But a lot of people know what the cycle of abuse is, right? And they also know what the batter woman syndrome is, right? So those are two really important things that really began to shift how we looked at domestic abuse in general.

And the reason that I would do that, I know now, or I believe now, is because the tension of waiting for him to hurt me became so acute that I would almost try to hurry it up.

Back in 1979, a psychologist called Lenore Walker described women sometimes setting off the explosion themselves because the waiting is worse.

It's sad to think that the waiting can be so excruciating.

You create the thing that hurts you and yet we don't leave.

She testified in her own defense.

Her attorneys called several experts, including Lenore Walker, to explain battered person syndrome in general terms.

However, Michigan law significantly limited the scope of that testimony.

The specialists were not allowed to state directly, as the defense wanted, that Nancy's specific behavior was consistent with the syndrome.