This phenomenological study was developed in the Reference and care center for women victims of domestic violence in Curitiba, Brazil, and the metropolitan region, from April to August of 2010, with five women. The objective was to reveal the manifestation of the resilience process in women victims of domestic violence. The descriptions were obtained through open interviews and analyzed according to the following moments: description, reduction and understanding of the phenomenon. It was found that the resilience process started when the aggressor physically attempt to kill them, hurt and/or kill their children. The threat to their lives made them leave the state of immobility, and internal mobility set them into existential movement, to search for help in the social support networks, which are essential for their dealing with the situation, as they allow them to report the trauma they have experienced. The narrative implies the women attribute a new meaning to the suffering they experienced and, therefore, there was overcoming and an encouragement to the resilience process.
Violence against women; Domestic violence; Psychological resilience