Seeking Advice: Friend Facing Severe Parental Abuse

A close friend of mine is experiencing severe physical and emotional abuse from her mother. Today, she simply wanted to sleep, but her mother insisted she studied instead. Since she didn’t know how to handle her stress (caused by her mom), she raised her voice slightly out of frustration—and in response, her mother physically assaulted her.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Her mother has always been physically abusive. When my friend was just five years old, she was excited to see her birthday gift early, but her mother became enraged and repeatedly hit her with the gift until she was bleeding—others had to intervene to stop her. Even now, at 17, my friend faces regular physical violence. She was once choked simply for asking her mother to lower the volume on her phone while she was studying.

What makes this even more concerning is that her mother did not grow up in an abusive household, meaning this behavior isn't the result of a cycle of generational trauma. Her father and grandmother feel deeply saddened by what she goes through and try to support her, but her mother dominates the entire household, leaving them powerless to intervene.

My friend feels helpless and doesn’t know where to turn. I want to help her, but I’m not sure what the best course of action is. If anyone has experience dealing with situations like this—Can you please advice her on how to deal with this. She deserves to be safe.