The Correlation Of Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms And Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

Throughout the world, we hear many stories about individuals being victimized, and individuals who have are the perpetrators. Also, many of these news segments are based off of headed situations between intimate relationships. Many relationships become this way because of stress about work, paying bills, past circumstances, and much more. There are many micro and macro level risk factors that pertain to victims (prior history of intimate partner violence, female sex, and youth), and perpetration (anger issues, low self-esteem, low income, and depression). “These factors are some of the very important factors that shape victimization and perpetration in intimate partner violence” (Seccombe, 2015, p.318).

A clinical assessment is then conducted for treatment needs. Different treatment plans are made for each client. Individualized treatment plans are used to make referrals and they are updated periodically.”

1)F.Scott Christopher and Tiffani S. Kisler(2012)surveyed mental health issues faced by women who experienced intimate partner violence.339 college women were surveyed and analysis showed that verbal aggression and minor and major physical violence overlapped.Experiences of sexual assault and minor physical violence also co-occurred.Women who experienced verbal and physical abuse but not sexual violence showed symptoms of hostility,anxiety,and depression and those who experienced sexual abuse displayed signs of depression.

Women who are chronically battered has been categorized as a subclass of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is composed of the following symptoms: re-living the battering as if it were reoccurring even when it is not, efforts to circumvent the psychological effect of battering by avoiding activities, people, and emotions, hyperarousal or hypervigilance, disrupted interpersonal relationships, body image distortion or other somatic concerns, and sexuality

Domestic violence exists everywhere and affects all people regardless of socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, sex, ethnicity, or religion. Most times physical violence is accompanied by emotional abuse and controlling behaviors. The result of domestic violence includes physical injury, psychological issues, and death. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) occurs in 1 of 4 women in the United States and can be correlated with a loss of emotional, social, physical and mental health. Intimate Partner Violence is an issue that does not receive a lot of recognition and is overlooked majority of the time. There is a lot of information on women in intimate partner violence relationships that explains how it affects women physically, mentally, and socially.

Rates of use of IPV among Veteran and military populations vary from 13.3% to 58% (Riggs, Byrne, Weathers, & Litz, 1998, p. 213-225), with one study finding that the physical violence used was more severe in military populations than similar civilian rates (Heyman & Neidig, 1999, p. 239-242). Experience of IPV among female Veterans is also higher when compared to civilian rates. The study concluded that female Veterans experienced IPV at a rate of 33% while their female civilian counterparts experienced it at a rate of 24% (Dichter, Cerulli, & Bossarte, 2011, p. 190-194). Female Veterans using VA healthcare report even higher rates of IPV, as high as 74% (Campbell, Greeson, Bybee, & Raja, 2008, p. 194-207) A study of female VA patients in recent relationships concluded that 28.8% reported past year IPV (Iverson et al., 2013, p. 1288-1293). For Veterans, PTSD is an important correlate that may account for the relationship between combat exposure and the use of IPV (Marshall, A.D., Panuzio, J., & Taft, C.T. 2005, p. 862-876). Other correlates include military service factors, such as prolonged separation from family, multiple deployments, combat related stress, financial stressors, relationship changes, and demographic factors (Bell, Harford, Fuchs, McCarroll, & Schwartz, 2006, p. 1721-1733).

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been prevalent throughout the years, specifically in the state of South Carolina. There are numerous accounts where the system fails the victim or the victim fails to receive adequate help, and kills their batterers. When this came into existence many legal justifications came about, including Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as a form of self defense. Before a final verdict is made in such cases, I feel that there are several factors that should be considered. These mitigating factors should include whether the victim tried to get help, and if so what all was done, whether the victim was awarded an order of protection from the offender and did they stay in contact afterwards, etc.

Researchers Smith, Homish, Leonard, and Cornelius admit that it is well known that a risk factor for intimate partner violence is substance use. (2012) However, we have a very limited understanding of the association between specific substance use and intimate partner violence. These researchers set out to bring about a deeper understanding of this. For the purpose of this study, researchers examined intimate partner violence in the presence of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid use, as well as poly-substance use of alcohol and cocaine and alcohol and marijuana. (Smith, et al., 2012) Further, this study looked at substance use and intimate partner violence and differentiated between perpetration and victimization. Alcohol and cocaine use disorders were highly associated with intimate partner perpetration whereas cannabis and opioid use disorders were more highly associated with intimate partner victimization. (Smith, et al., 2012) Individuals diagnosed with both an alcohol use disorder and a cannabis use disorder were reported to have a lower likelihood of intimate partner perpetration compared to having the diagnosis of any one substance use disorder. Having a poly-substance use disorder with the combination of alcohol and cocaine increased the likelihood of an individual to perpetrate intimate partner violence. However, if you remove the diagnosis of alcohol use disorder and only have a cocaine use disorder, the

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social issue that affects millions of Americans. IPV describes physical sexual or psychological harm by a current or former partner spouse. Anyone can be a victim of IPV, this type of violence can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples. However, this paper will focus on IPV faced by women. IPV is an important global public health concern related to physical trauma, mental illness, poor health, suicide and murder.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). There are many risk factors that cause IPV; one of the predictors of IPV is a person’s socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status is commonly conceptualized as the social standing or class, an individual’s socioeconomic status is measured as a combination of education, income and occupation. (American Psychology Association).

This section will discuss the topic intimate partner violence against women as discussed by other scholars and authors. Various books will be analyzed to understand the topic better. The section will also explain the main issues independently analyzing different literature and will also discuss the similarities and differences. The issue has emanated a lot of public concern as more young women continue to suffer in silence with the fear of speaking out against their partners. Some women, however, are courageous and have opted to speak about the issue in public without fear of being judged or criticized. Careful analysis of the different books will help to determine the different perspectives that different authors understand

Even though suicide is a personal situation, sometimes the reasons for suicide is more personal that what most can see such as domestic violence, this includes physical and verbal abuse. Children and teens who are abused domestically tend to experience emotional, mental, physical and social damage that could affect their entire lives. The psychological effects of domestic violence could be long or short term and many children experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is similar to what a combat veteran would experience after war. Even if the abuse is not directed to the child, he/she could still be affected by witnessing abuse around them. According to the Child Domestic Violence Association those who grow up in a with domestic

This study examines the relationships between perpetration, victimization, and three psychosocial variables depression, self esteem, and substance abuse that have been constructed in prior research as both causes and consequences of partner violence. Results indicate that associations between substance abuse and self-esteem and partner violence perpetration are mediated by controlling for victimization, but depression is associated with both victimization and perpetration. Associations between mutual violence and depression and substance abuse are greater among women than men, supporting the position that gender symmetry in reported violence perpetration does not imply symmetry in

Domestic violence can often go unnoticed, unreported and undeterred before it’s too late. Unfortunately, recent awareness efforts have gathered traction only when public outcry for high profile cases are magnified through the media. Despite this post-measured reality, a general response to domestic violence (DV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) by the majority of the public is in line with what most consider unacceptable and also with what the law considers legally wrong. Consider by many, more than just a social discrepancy, the Center of Diseases Control and Prevention currently classifies IPV and DV as a social health problem (CDC, 2014).

Violence has been an ongoing issue, and has increased over the years. There are many different types of violence that can take place, one being domestic violence. Domestic violence is defined as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person (U.S. Department of Justice, 2014). There is an increase of domestic violence with women being the victims, although men have a high number of being victims of Domestic Violence also. The National Coalition against Domestic Violence states that 85% of domestic violence victims are women (NCADV, 2014). This review explored the different factors that affect women who have been or are currently in domestic violent relationships, with one major issue being substance abuse and the services, if any, that were provided to them, and if they were beneficial.

After having analysed what the 50 women had to say in the Pilot study, the following Methodology was adopted for the final study. Quantitative Methodology with the Survey was considered the most feasible method for the present study. It is less oriented towards representatives and more towards finding associations and explanations, less towards description and more towards prediction, less lightly to ask ‘how many’, than ‘why’ and what goes with ‘what’.