Possible Trigger question.

Drawing this from a friends real life situation, I’m trying to prove something to here. Here’s the scenario:

A man and a woman are in a long-term relationship. One night they get into an argument and the man, out of anger, hits himself in the face. He has done things like this before, but never as bad as this one time. He busted his lip and bruised his face. The woman feels that this behavior is okay and because he did not hit her it is not abuse.

I feel that it is NOT okay, and though it isn’t physical abuse it is most definitely emotional/mental abuse. He wanted to intimidate her in my opinion. I even feel she should leave him. What do you ladies think? Feel free to comment to further explain yourself!