Australians who experienced intimate partner violence are more than twice as likely to have a diagnosable mental disorder, new national research has found.
Key findings:
- Study highlights substantial mental health burden associated with intimate partner violence, extending beyond physical violence to psychological and sexual violence.
- Bisexual Australians who had experienced intimate partner violence had particularly high rates of mental disorders, including anxiety, depression and PTSD.
New ACU research, published in the Journal of Family Violence, found more than half of Australians who experienced violence from a current or former partner met diagnostic criteria for at least one mental disorder.
This included major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder.
ACU's Associate Professor Megan Willis said the mental health toll was greatest for those exposed to multiple forms of intimate partner violence.
Published in the Journal of Family Violence, the research showed 55.3 per cent of people who had experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime met diagnostic criteria for at least one mental disorder compared with 24.5 per cent of those who had not.
The analysis included data from more than 7000 people from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study which looked at experiences of abuse and adversity across the lifespan.
Associate Professor Willis said the findings highlighted the substantial mental health burden associated with intimate partner violence across psychological, physical and sexual forms of violence.
"More than half of Australians who had experienced intimate partner violence met diagnostic criteria for at least one of the mental disorders examined," she said. "That really highlights the scale of the mental health burden associated with intimate partner violence."
Psychological violence, which can include threats, verbal abuse, humiliation and controlling behaviour, was strongly associated with mental disorders. Psychological intimate partner violence has historically received less attention in research, despite being the most prevalent form of intimate partner violence.
"Abuse doesn't have to leave a physical injury to be associated with serious mental health consequences," Associate Professor Willis said.
"Psychological violence can be harder to recognise, but our findings indicate it should not be treated as less serious."
Associate Professor Willis supervised the analysis by Master of Psychology (Clinical) student and first author Tasha Beaton.
Ms Beaton found the burden was high among bisexual Australians who had experienced any form of intimate partner violence - 83.5 per cent meeting diagnostic criteria for at least one mental disorder, compared with 53.1 per cent of heterosexual Australians who had experienced intimate partner violence.
"The particularly high prevalence of mental disorders among bisexual victims-survivors is concerning," Ms Beaton said.
"Bisexual people have historically been overlooked in intimate partner violence research, and these findings highlight the need to better understand their experiences and ensure services are responsive to their needs."
Associate Professor Willis said the study also highlighted the cumulative mental health burden among people who had experienced adversity across different stages of their lives.
Among people who had experienced intimate partner violence and multiple forms of child maltreatment, 62.5 per cent met criteria for at least one mental disorder. This compared with 50.8 per cent of those who had experienced one type of childhood maltreatment and 39.1 per cent of those with no history of child maltreatment.
Associate Professor Willis said the findings reinforced the importance of both supporting people who had experienced intimate partner violence and preventing violence in the first place.
"Supporting people after intimate partner violence occurs is critical, but reducing its broader mental health burden also means preventing violence and recognising it earlier," she said.
"We need greater awareness of the many ways that psychological intimate partner violence can present, including signs that may not initially be recognised as abuse, alongside clear pathways to support when people do disclose."
Health services also had an important role to play in ensuring victim-survivors received appropriate support.
"Health professionals are often in a position to identify intimate partner violence, but they need the training and systems around them to respond safely and appropriately when someone discloses abuse, and to connect them with ongoing support," she said.
The researchers called for more investment in intimate partner violence prevention alongside accessible, trauma-informed mental health services that recognise the heightened needs of sexuality and gender-diverse communities and people who have experienced multiple forms of childhood adversity.
