Recovery from depressive symptoms, state anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in women exposed to physical and psychological, but not to psychological intimate partner violence alone: A longitudinal study

Abstract

BackgroundIt is well established that intimate male partner violence (IPV) has a high impact on women's mental health. It is necessary to further investigate this impact longitudinally to assess the factors that contribute to its recovery or deterioration. The objective of this study was to assess the course of depressive, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and suicidal behavior over a three-year follow-up in female victims of IPV.MethodsWomen (n = 91) who participated in our previous cross-sectional study, and who had been either physically/psychologically (n = 33) or psychologically abused (n = 23) by their male partners, were evaluated three years later. A nonabused control group of women (n = 35) was included for comparison. Information about mental health status and lifestyle variables was obtained through face-to-face structured interviews.ResultsResults of the follow-up study indicated that while women exposed to physical/psychological IPV recovered their mental health status with a significant decrease in depressive, anxiety and PTSD symptoms, no recovery occurred in women exposed to psychological IPV alone. The evolution of IPV was also different: while it continued across both time points in 65.21% of psychologically abused women, it continued in only 12.12% of physically/psychologically abused women while it was reduced to psychological IPV in 51.5%. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that cessation of physical IPV and perceived social support contributed to mental health recovery, while a high perception of lifetime events predicted the continuation of PTSD symptoms.ConclusionThis study shows that the pattern of mental health recovery depends on the type of IPV that the women had been exposed to. While those experiencing physical/psychological IPV have a higher likelihood of undergoing a cessation or reduction of IPV over time and, therefore, could recover, women exposed to psychological IPV alone have a high probability of continued exposure to the same type of IPV with a low possibility of recovery. Thus, women exposed to psychological IPV alone need more help to escape from IPV and to recuperate their mental health. Longitudinal studies are needed to improve knowledge of factors promoting or impeding health recovery to guide the formulation of policy at individual, social and criminal justice levels.

The Association of Partner Abuse Types and Suicidal Ideation Among Men and Women College Students

“…Evidence of harassment, emotional, and physical abuse should warrant inquiry about suicidal ideation, given these abuse types were positively correlated with suicidal ideation and co-occur in both men and women (Black et al, 2011;Follingstad et al, 1990). Couples therapy is a critical setting in which both partners must be assessed for suicide risk because 71% of couples seeking therapy have been found to report IPV (Cascardi, Langhinrichsen, & Vivian, 1992). In particular, physical abuse should warrant careful assessment of suicidal ideation in men, whereas emotional abuse should warrant such assessment in women.…”

“…For example, emotional abuse persists despite the cessation of physical abuse in relationships and predicts repeated physical abuse (Jacobson, Gottman, Gortner, Berns, & Shortt, 1996). Emotional abuse is also cited by abused women as the primary reason for terminating abusive relationships because of painful psychological symptoms (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], anxiety, and depression), that are difficult to recover from (Blasco-Ros et al, 2010;O'Leary, 1999). In addition, IPV characterized by emotional abuse may impact social factors, such as social support (Leone et al, 2007) or employment (Leone, Johnson, Cohan, & Loyd, 2004), which protect against suicidal ideation Kaslow et al, 1998).…”

South Asian Women in the U.S. and their Experience of Domestic Violence

“…One is that psychological abuse has severe consequences, since an abused woman's well-being usually deteriorates over time, often leading to loss of self-esteem and identity (Midlarsky et al 2006) and suppressed anger, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress syndrome (Midlarsky et al;Swan and Snow 2003). Secondly, psychological abuse can also lead to other somatic problems such as sleep disturbances; fatigue; headaches; pains in chest, limbs, and back; respiratory problems; and menstrual difficulties (Blasco-Ros et al 2010;Sutherland et al 2001;Svavarsdottir andOrlygsdottir 2009). Blasco-Ros et al (2010) also found that women who were exposed to psychological abuse needed more time to escape from the abuse and were less likely to recover their mental health.…”

Remission of PTSD after victims of intimate partner violence leave a shelter

“…Recently, Blasco-Ros, Sánchez-Lorente, and Martinez (2010), investigated the recovery of PTSD over a 3-year period in a community sample of 91 IPV victims. They found that women exposed to both physical and psychological IPV experienced significant reduction in both incidence (24.2%–18.2%) and severity of PTSD over follow-up, whereas those with only psychological IPV did not experience significant recovery from PTSD.…”

“…None of the studies, however, specifically investigated factors related to remission of IPV-related PTSD. Other limitations include use of a self-report measure of PTSD, no inclusion of baseline and follow-up rates of PTSD (Krause et al, 2008), low rates of PTSD, inclusion of only one follow-up period, and failure to account for sub-threshold PTSD symptoms (Blasco-Ros et al, 2010; Mertin & Mohr, 2001), lack of specification regarding if the PTSD was IPV-related, and failure to assess for correlates of recovery from PTSD (Mertin & Mohr, 2001). Thus, more longitudinal research on IPV-related PTSD is warranted, especially for IPV victims who seek shelter to establish safety.…”