Content Warning: This post contains discussions of domestic violence.
The correlation between mental health and domestic violence is multifaceted and often cyclical. Individuals who experience domestic violence, whether physical, emotional, or psychological, often suffer from significant mental health issues due to the trauma they endure. It’s crucial to recognize that addressing both mental health and domestic violence is essential for breaking the cycle of abuse and promoting healing and recovery for survivors.
Domestic violence is associated with a range of physical and mental health effects. Being a victim of domestic violence is linked to an increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and suicide. Exposure to traumatic events can lead to stress, fear, and isolation, which may lead to depression and suicidal thoughts or behavior.
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), 20% of survivors develop mental health conditions. These include:
- Major depressive disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Substance use disorders
The APA also states that survivors of domestic violence may blame themselves for the abuse they received. They can become self-critical, self-destructive, and suicidal. Chronic abuse can create trauma responses that interfere with future relationships. Survivors may struggle with emotional regulation, dissociation, and numbing, and have trouble reading social cues.
Researchers have found that mental health outcomes of domestic violence can become a vicious cycle. Survivors can believe they are powerless to control violent behavior or to develop resources to change their situation. This can potentially set up a long-term pattern of violent partnerships.
Violence also affects the children of those involved. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), children of people experiencing abuse are more likely to be abused. They also tend to have poorer school performance than their peers and higher rates of illness, including depression and anxiety. Witnessing domestic abuse is considered an adverse childhood experience (ACE). Such toxic stress in early life is linked to several negative health outcomes in adulthood, ranging from depression and substance use disorder to diabetes and heart disease.
Treating the Mental Health Effects of Domestic Violence
Mental health professionals who treat survivors of violence often use a trauma-informed approach. When counseling patients, they consider the distress the patient experienced and how it shapes the person’s beliefs and behavior. This approach focuses on creating a sense of safety and empowerment for patients. In treatment, patients can strengthen communication, learn stress management, and reduce feelings of isolation. Such skills may protect against future incidences of domestic violence.
In addition to individual counseling, group therapy can be helpful for survivors. In the context of a group, they can learn from others’ experiences and can shed feelings of isolation and secrecy.
At Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, we are committed to providing support to survivors, including mental health services. Every client can receive free individual therapeutic services so that they can begin to understand, resolve, and heal from the trauma they have experienced specifically domestic violence-related trauma. We also offer a weekly support group where clients learn skills to help them cope with past experiences while building healthy relationships and a community with other clients. Support group also allows survivors to have a confidential setting to connect with other survivors who have experienced domestic violence.
For more information about these programs, please email us at info@nwaws.org.