Domestic Violence And Mental Health Essay

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Many studies have pointed to negative and often long-term mental health consequences of domestic violence for victims. These impacts extend to depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and other disorders, substance abuse to self medicate, and suicide. Findings linking domestic violence and mental health raise important issues for service response. Firstly, health systems and practitioners need to be attuned to negative mental health impacts of domestic violence for victims in order to assist them; that is, to address their psychological needs, as well as refer to specialised services to address their safety and other needs.
Secondly, health services and systems need to be mindful of increasing levels of harm for victims who may have experienced …show more content…

2011, p. 56). Among male victims, 16.4% reported at least one post-traumatic stress disorder symptom (p. 57).
• Evidence indicates greater mental health consequences for women who are sexually abused by a partner when compared with those who are physically abused only, even after controlling for the severity of physical violence.
Impacts include lower self esteem and body image (Campbell 1989); a greater number of mental health problems
(Cole, Logan & Shannon 2005); depression and increased levels of depression (Campbell & Soeken 1999; Vogel &
Marshall 2001); and more severe post-traumatic stress (Bennice et al. 2003; Temple et al. 2007).
• In their analysis of health outcomes contributing to the disease burden of intimate partner violence among women in Victoria, VicHealth (2004, p. 25) found that anxiety and depression represented the greatest proportion of the disease burden (27% and 35% respectively). Eating disorders represented a further 0.5% of the disease burden (p. 27).
MAY 2013
FAST FACTS 10
• In a seminal study on the cost of domestic violence, Access Economics (2004, p. 24) associated nearly 18% of all female depression and 17% of female anxiety disorders in Australia with family violence.
DRUG AND ALCOHOL

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