Title: Mental Health Disorders Linked To Domestic Violence
Headings: Mental Health Disorders Linked To Domestic Violence
Mental Health Disorders Linked To Domestic Violence
Content: Mental Health Disorders Linked To Domestic Violence
Mental Health Disorders Linked To Domestic Violence
Written by Catharine Paddock, Ph.D. on December 27, 2012
New research from the UK finds that experience of domestic violence is more common among adults with all kinds of mental health disorders than in the general population. The researchers, from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, and the University of Bristol, say their findings suggest doctors should be aware of the link and ensure patients with mental health problems are kept safe from domestic violence and treated for the mental health effects of such abuse. They write about their findings in the 26 December issue of the online open access journal PLoS ONE. The study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of published data, is part of PROVIDE, a 5-year research program on domestic violence funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Previous research on the link between mental health problems and domestic violence have tended to focus mainly on depression. For this new review and analysis, the reseachers pooled data from 41 studies worldwide to estimate the prevalence and odds of men and women with various kinds of mental health disorders being victims of domestic violence. They found, for example, that: Compared to women with no mental health disorders, measured over their adult life, women with depressive disorders were around 2.5 times more likely to have been victims of domestic violence (with a prevalence estimated at 45.8%). For women with anxiety disorders, this figure was over 3.5 times, with a prevalence estimate of 27.6%. And women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the chances of having experienced domestic violence was 7 times more (prevalence estimate 61.0%) than women with no mental health problems.