Psychological trauma and intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem that can have severe mental health consequences. As a society, we have a responsibility to prevent and protect victims from this type of abuse. To contribute to the current state of knowledge, this dissertation focuses on psychological violence and how we should understand this type of IPV from a trauma perspective. A second focus is the women’s shelter intervention and how we can evaluate this type of intervention from a mental health perspective.

Two simultaneous studies were conducted; A prospective study with 150 women taking residence at four Danish women’s shelters; and a systematic review with meta-analyses addressing the association between psychological violence and a variety of mental health problems, e.g., Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. The applied methodology and the results are presented here and discussed in relation to each other and the current state of knowledge.

Findings demonstrate the gravity of psychological violence and suggest that this type of violence should be considered a traumatic event, equal to physical and sexual IPV. However, research on psychological violence is often characterized by numerous methodological shortcomings, which limits our confidence in the results. The evaluation of these results indicate that more research is needed before we can draw any final conclusions.

The women in the four Danish women’s shelters exhibited a high level of PTSD and Complex PTSD symptoms at enrolment. Revictimization was high during residency and the women stayed at the shelters for a prolonged period of time. Although the women reported a significant symptom decline at follow-up, a substantial subgroup of the women continued to exhibit trauma symptoms.

The following dissertation will discuss the clinical implications of these findings.