Appearance‐related residual injury, posttraumatic stress, and body image: Associations within a sample of female victims of intimate partner violence

Abstract

One third of women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) receive some form of injury. After acute injuries have healed, a victim's physical appearance may be altered with residual changes including marks or scars. This study included 56 female victims of IPV (31 with appearance-related residual injury and a comparison group of 25 with no appearance-related residual injury) and examined the associations between violence-related experiences, body image distress, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Appearance-related residual injury status moderated the relationship between body image distress and symptoms of PTSD. In addition, within the appearance-related residual injury group, body image distress emerged a unique predictor of PTSD explaining incremental variance beyond that explained by severity of psychological maltreatment.

Body Image in Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after Childhood Sexual Abuse and Co-Occurring Eating Disorder

“…Likewise, the attitude towards sexuality is seen more negative as compared to controls [14,16]. The degree of disruption of body image thereby correlates with the severity of the experienced violence [18]. By comparing female victims of nonsexual trauma with those who experienced sexual abuse, Sack et al [19] were able to substantiate the specificity of body discontent in sexually traumatized women.…”

A pilot study exploring the relationship between trauma symptoms and appearance concerns following burns

“…It was reported that visible scarring was not related to greater appearance concerns or PTSD symptoms overall in this sample, but there was a stronger relationship between PTSD symptoms and appearance concerns in the appearance-related residual injury group. The authors of the study [20] speculatively concluded that distress about scarring may maintain PTSD symptoms by acting as a reminder of the distressing traumatic event, through seeing the injury, receiving comments from others, or somatosensory experiences. The authors [20] continued to speculate that avoidance behaviours and negative affect associated with PTSD and appearance concerns may be mutually maintaining.…”

“…Only three relevant studies could be found, which included literature searches related to burns and other physical trauma populations. Two studies [1,19] explored the burn-injured population and the third [20] studied survivors of domestic violence. The first study [1] explored objective and psychological variables that predicted PTSD symptoms in 35 burn injured patients and found that visibility of scars was not predictive of PTSD symptoms but concern about scarring accounted for 40% of the variance of PTSD symptoms, making it the biggest predictor of PTSD.…”

“…The third study [20] explored PTSD symptoms in a group of 56 women who had experienced domestic violence. Participants were split into two groups; those with appearance-related residual injuries (n = 31) and those without (n = 25).…”

Modeling posttraumatic stress disorder among victimized women on probation and parole : examining the impact of childhood victimization.

“…These findings indicate that the women in this study who met criteria for PTSD were on average, less symptomatic than men and women with PTSD in other samples who were survivors of a variety of different traumatic events including fires, accidents, combat, natural disaster (M= 33.59, SD= 9.96;Foa et al, 1997), but more symptomatic on average than men and women without PTSD in that sample (M=12.54, SD=10.54). When compared with women in another sample who had experienced intimate partner violence and met criteria for PTSD (M=25.54, SD=13.83; Weaver et al, 2007), the women in the present sample who met criteria for PTSD were on average, more symptomatic. Childhood Victimization.…”