Preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) could lower rates of mental illness, a new scientific review suggests.
A commission set up by The Lancet Psychiatry said more than one in four (27%) women and girls worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partners.
And researchers including Prof Soraya Seedat, head of psychiatry at Stellenbosch University, found experiencing IPV significantly increases the likelihood of mental health problems ... which in turn makes IPV more likely.
The risk of IPV seems to be highest in societies that are most unequal in terms of gender relations and where violence against women is an accepted norm.
Men’s endorsement of sexist, superior or sexually hostile attitudes can all be predictors of someone who is likely to commit IPV.
— Commission
Commission experts said IPV has been marginalised for too long and needs a societal response.
Reducing levels of IPV experienced by women and witnessed by their children could go a long way to bringing down the number of people who experience illnesses such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, they said.
They also found that:
- Reducing IPV is likely to improve mental health outcomes, irrespective of whether exposure occurs directly in adulthood, indirectly in childhood, or both.
- Some people with mental health problems are more likely to commit IPV compared with those without mental health problems.
- Reduction in alcohol use is associated with reductions in IPV and its severity.
- Severe parental stress increases the risk of children experiencing maltreatment, including exposure to parental IPV.
- IPV causes early exposure to stress, even in utero, leading to difficulties in coping with stressors during life and contributing to intergenerational violence.
SA is one of the worst countries for IPV, with up to half of women reporting they have experienced it. And femicide in SA is about four times the global average.
In January President Cyril Ramaphosa signed new laws after civil society calls for legislation that would send a message to perpetrators and protect victims.
The Domestic Violence Amendment Act allows victims thereof to apply for protection orders online. The Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act tightens bail and minimum sentencing provisions in cases of gender-based violence (GBV). The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act aims to prevent sex crimes, particularly paedophilia.
The Lancet authors said IPV is a gender problem, with women and girls bearing the overwhelming burden, and suggested societal norms that promote violence need to be addressed.
“Men’s endorsement of sexist, superior or sexually hostile attitudes can all be predictors of someone who is likely to commit IPV, while women might be expected to tolerate violence against them,” they said.
Challenging these beliefs early on could help to ensure they survive into adulthood, they said, adding that schools should play a vital role.
“The creation and promotion of an ethos that models gender equality and respectful relationships would educate both boys and girls from an early age that people are to be respected.”
Lead author Louise Howard, professor of women’s mental health at King’s College London, said the commission findings reinforced guidance that mental health professions should “routinely ask about IPV as it is so common an experience of people using mental health services”.
She added: “There is a distinct lack of training offered to mental health professionals like myself. I am a practising psychiatrist.
“As a medical student, a trainee and even when I started practising in general adult psychiatry, I was never taught about the effects of domestic violence. Given how prevalent this is among service users, this represents a desperate oversight that urgently needs to be addressed.”
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