The Effects of Domestic abuse on a person’s mental health

According to the Article by Edward C. Chang and Emma R Kahle, “Domestic abuse id defined as physical, emotional and/ or sexual harm of individuals who are intimately involved.  Domestic abuse represents a global problem” In this study they say a women aged 15 to 44 who are involved in a  domestic abuse relationship can lose between “5% to 20%” of her healthy years.  In this blog I am going discuss some of the repercussions or effects on a women’s mental and emotional health when domestic abuse is part of her life.(Chang, Kahle, & Hirsch, 2015)

Diagnosis of a person who is in a Domestic Abuse Relationship

·         Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Chang, Kahle, & Hirsch, 2015)

·         Anxiety (Chang, Kahle, & Hirsch, 2015)

·         Increased suicidal behavior (Chang, Kahle, & Hirsch, 2015)

·         Depression (Chang, Kahle, & Hirsch, 2015)

·         Dissociative Disorder (Somer, Ross, Kirshberg, Shawahdy Bakri, & Ismail, 2015)

·         Dissociative identity Disorder (Somer, Ross, Kirshberg, Shawahdy Bakri, & Ismail, 2015)

·         Dissociative Trance Disorder (Somer, Ross, Kirshberg, Shawahdy Bakri, & Ismail, 2015)

·         Dissociative Amnesia disorder (Somer, Ross, Kirshberg, Shawahdy Bakri, & Ismail, 2015)

·         Depersonalization Disorder (Somer, Ross, Kirshberg, Shawahdy Bakri, & Ismail, 2015)

In the Article titled Understanding How Domestic Abuse is associated with Greater Depressive Symptoms (Chang, Kahle, & Hirsch, 2015) they took 71 adult females from a community based primary care clinic in the United States and had them assessed by answering questions of self-disclosure Hurt, Insulted, Threatened with harm and Screamed at them (HITS) scale for domestic abuse.  They also took the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale to measure for depressive symptoms.  (Chang, Kahle, & Hirsch, 2015)

It was found that there is a correlation between Domestic Abuse, Belongingness and Depressive symptoms.  They also found that those females who had greater experiences of domestic abuse were associated with a greater risk of depression but also found that those women who had a connection with a higher power were found to have experienced fewer depressive symptoms.  (Chang, Kahle, & Hirsch, 2015)

In the article Dissociative Disorders and Possession experiences in Israeli, they used the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES) and the Dissociative Disorder Interview Schedule (DDIS) to find participants willing and meeting criteria for this study.  They found that many of the women who experienced domestic violence had reported being possessed at some point in their lives by alien entities, which is believed to be associated with dissociative trance disorder.  The average DES score among Arab women who had reported domestic violence exceeded the commonly accepted cut-off score of 30.  According to the article this means that the participants were positive for Dissociative disorders with dissociative amnesia and depersonalization disorder being the most common diagnosis. (Somer, Ross, Kirshberg, Shawahdy Bakri, & Ismail, 2015)

In the book The Body Keeps the Score, on page 100 it states that “traumatized people are not so fortunate and feel separated from their bodies.”  It goes on to say “To the depersonalized individual the world appears strange, peculiar, foreign, and dream-like.”   On page 157 it states  that when a person is ‘suddenly and unexpectedly devastated by an atrocious event”  that person is never the same again, the trauma gets replayed over and over again in the persons head and it causes the nervous system to be reorganized. 

In the following video, it showed how the different areas of the brain help in the recalling and the fight, flight, and freeze body movements. 

 

To really understand the effects of trauma I had to look at it in a different way.  I went to a retreat called Healing Warriors Hearts and this is the way that the person leading the retreat explained it to me.  Before anyone is ever traumatized they are building a road that is fun, enjoyable and relaxing the road gets stronger over time, but then the trauma happens and you end up on a detour road.  Now you are building a road that you keep repaving (reliving the trauma, flashbacks etc.) It takes a while to get somewhere where you are comfortable again and you may be able to get off the detoured road but you may never me on that first road.  Most people are able to get off the detoured road and find a happy medium road between the two roads.    

 

 

 

 

References

Chang, E. C., Kahle, E. R., & Hirsch, J. K. (2015). Understanding How Donestic Abuse is Associated with Great Depressive Symptoms in a Communty Sample of Female Primary Care Patients: Does Loss of Belongingness Matter. Violence Against Women, 1-12.

Somer, E., Ross, C., Kirshberg, R., Shawahdy Bakri, R., & Ismail, S. (2015). Dissociative disorders and possession experiences in Israel: A comparison of opiate use disoder patients, Arab women subjected to Domestic Violence and a nonclinical group. Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(1), 58-73.

 

 

 

 

 

The Effects on Children in homes of Domestic Abuse

Have you ever thought of what the consequences are on children in the homes where domestic abuse is ongoing?  Is the sex of the child a deciding factor in whether the child becomes an abuser?

According to the article by John W. Fantuzzo (Fantuzzo, et al., 1991) adult abusers are more likely to have observed interparental violence in the home growing up, than their nonviolent counterparts.  Many of the now adult abusers reported having many different psychological issues growing up.  Some of the abusers stated they had nightmares, depression, problems with aggression and other medical issues growing up.  When comparing children who live in violent homes to those in nonviolent homes, it was discovered that those in violent homes could have a significantly higher chance of having externalizing (cursing, fighting, stealing, destruction of property, etc.) and internalizing (social withdrawal, loneliness, guilt, nervousness, irritability, eating difficulties, etc.) behavioral problems.  They did find that more children living in the violent homes were reporting lower self-esteem, lower levels of self-competence and more distress. 

In the following you tube video;  This is the first video of a series that Dr. Phil does on being an agent of change for Domestic Violence.  The first thing that you will see is a lady by the name of Antoinette give a great poem on the effects of domestic violence in the home.  Approximately 10 minutes into the video Dr. Phil talks about the seriousness of Domestic violence in the home and his wife talks about how a smile can give someone going through so much turmoil Hope and towards the end of the video a spokes person for Verizon talks about the Hopeline.   

 

When they compared the children living in violent homes, who were currently residing in abuse shelters to those not living in violent homes at the preschool age they found similar results.  Those preschoolers who observed violence in the home at a younger age were more likely to have behavioral issues growing up.  Clinical levels of conduct problems and moderate levels of emotional problems were associated with those children who were witnesses to verbal and physical abuse within the home, when you added that the family is staying in an abuse shelter this added lower levels of social functioning and perceived maternal acceptance.  When there was only verbal conflict the children were found to only suffer from a moderate level of conduct problems (Fantuzzo, et al., 1991). 

Treatment for children who have witnessed domestic violence

There are many different forms of therapy available to children who have been exposed to violence.  According the article by Katrina Vikerman and Gayla Margolin some of those therapies are age appropriate and weather the child is as risk of further rejections.  Some of the therapies mentions in Vikerman’s article is individual, group, family and school (Vickerman & Margolin, 2007). 

According the Vikerman’s article cognitive interventions are used to help children and adolescents understand the connection between the violence they witnessed and the reaction they may have had.  This process also introduced the kids to the behaviors that are not normal and that the way they feel is normal considering the circumstances.  Cognitive intervention may also help they undo the harm that they learned living in a violent atmosphere.  What the therapists are trying to relay is that violent behavior is not ok and the violent behaviors that they witnessed is not normal and it is unacceptable (Vickerman & Margolin, 2007).

Some kind of psychotherapy is recommended for the child and the abused.  According the Vickerman’s study there was the most improvement when the mother or the parent being abused saw treatment with the child.  Youth are encouraged to realize that being aggressive is not okay and to think about ways to recognize and deal with their aggression if it were to become an issue (Vickerman & Margolin, 2007).

Conclusion

Children exposed to violence in the home are more likely to become abusers themselves if they are not taken out of the situation and if they do not get the proper therapy in helping to understand their feelings and help understanding that this behavior is not okay. 

 

References

Fantuzzo, J. W., Depaola, L. M., Lambert, L., Martino, T., Anderson, G., & Sutton, S. (1991). Effects of Interparental Violence on the Psychological Adjustment and Competencies of Young Children. JOurnal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 258-265.

Vickerman, K. A., & Margolin, G. (2007). Posttraumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents Exposed to Family Violence: II. Treatment. Professional Psychology, 620-628.