Publications - Relationship Violence

With homicide a leading cause of maternal death, doctors urged to screen pregnant women for domestic violence, by Jacqueline Howard, CNN, Oct 20 2022.

“Two researchers are urging health-care providers to educate and screen pregnant women about intimate partner violence, as women in the United States are more likely to be murdered during pregnancy or postpartum than to die of common obstetric causes such as high blood pressure, hemorrhage or sepsis.  Other research suggests that they are also at higher risk of homicide than women who are not pregnant.  Pregnancy-related homicides are often linked to domestic violence and firearms – but they are preventable, Rebecca Lawn and Karestan Koenen of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health wrote in an editorial published Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ. ”

Long waiting lists, long drives and costly care hinder many kids’ access to mental health care, by Brenda Goodman, CNN, Oct 6 2022.

“Norris is one of more than 2,000 adults surveyed this summer by CNN and the Kaiser Family Foundation about mental health issues in America. The nationally representative sample included more than 500 parents.  Nearly half of those parents, 47%, say the pandemic has negatively affected their kids’ mental health, with 17% saying it had a major negative impact.  More than 8 out of 10 parents said they’re at least somewhat worried about depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug use negatively affecting the life of US teens, while roughly three-quarters said they were worried about self-harm or pandemic-related loneliness and isolation.  More than 4 in 10 said they were very worried about alcohol and drug use, anxiety and depression affecting teens. Lower-income parents – those making less than $40,000 a year – were more likely than those in higher-income households to say they’re very worried about self-harm, eating disorders, depression and alcohol and drug use.  According to the survey, more than half of Americans (55%) think most children and teenagers in the US aren’t able to get the mental health services they need. ”

Teen Dating Violence Can Lead To Homicide — And Girls Are The Most Common Victims, by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Apr 15 2019.

“Domestic violence is common among adults, and women are most frequently the victims. In fact, nearly half of women killed by homicide in the United States are killed by their former or current intimate partners. ”

Even with insurance, getting mental health treatment is a struggle in Mass., study says, by Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, Dec 11 2018.

“Massachusetts residents who need health care are colliding with a hard reality: Having medical insurance doesn’t guarantee you can get treatment, particularly for psychiatric problems. More than half of adults who sought mental health or addiction treatment in recent months had difficulty getting that care, according to a survey of 2,201 residents by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in Boston...The obstacle wasn’t a lack of insurance; the vast majority of patients were insured. Rather, the problem was that providers either did not accept their insurance or their practices were closed to new patients. ”

States may now broaden mental health treatment under Medicaid, by Michael Nedelman, CNN, Nov 13 2018.

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may now allow for states to pursue Medicaid reimbursements for short-term inpatient treatment in mental health facilities despite a decades-old exclusion, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Tuesday. In a letter to state Medicaid directors, CMS detailed a new Medicaid waiver opportunity through which states may bypass longstanding reimbursement restrictions on inpatient psychiatric treatment, which apply to mental health facilities with more than 16 beds. Azar said the original policy has posed a "significant barrier" to people getting the treatments they need. ”

The Combination of Domestic Abuse and Alcohol, by Buddy T., verywellmind, May 1 2018.

“Statistics seem to indicate a connection between alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence, but some researchers question the cause-and-effect relationship. Studies of domestic violence frequently document high rates of alcohol and another drug (AOD) involvement, and AOD use is known to impair judgment, reduce inhibition, and increase aggression. Alcoholism and child abuse, including incest, seem also to be connected. ”

Written on the Body: Letters from Trans and Non-Binary Survivors of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, by Edited by Lexie Bean. Foreword and additional pieces by Dean Spade, Nyala Moon, Alex Valdes, Sawyer DeVuyst and Leshai Bailey., Mar 21 2018.

“Written by and for trans and non-binary survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, Written on the Body offers support, guidance and hope for those who struggle to find safety at home, in the body, and other unwelcoming places. This collection of letters written to body parts weaves together narratives of gender, identity, and abuse. It is the coming together of those who have been fragmented and often met with disbelief. The book holds the concerns and truths that many trans people share while offering space for dialogue and reclamation. ”

End Domestic Violence: The Complete Guide to Red Flags, Abuse, and Healing, by Carlson, L., 2018.

“This compact guide cuts out a lot of noise and gets straight to the point, which makes it a fast and easy read. It has eight chapters focusing on different aspects of abuse.  Chapter one: a complete list of 60 red flags which can possibly lead to an abusive relationship. These are merely flags which have the potential to turn into abuse and not a guarantee the person with these traits will be abusive, as most people will likely display one or two of the flags. However, someone who has several red flags, especially those which are considered more serious, is highly likely to engage in abusive behavoir.  ”

'Who's Going to Believe Me?'—Why It's So Hard to Talk About Domestic Abuse in LGBTQ Relationships, by Seema Yasmin, SELF.com, Dec 22 2017.

“Some patterns of abuse are the same across straight and LGBTQ relationships, with abusers aiming to disempower, disenfranchise, and hurt their partners. But there are distinct forms of abuse in queer relationships. ”

Gun laws targeting domestic abusers tied to fewer homicides, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Sep 18 2017.

“When people convicted of domestic violence or covered by restraining orders are not only banned from buying guns but forced to give up firearms they already own, they may be less likely to murder their intimate partners, a U.S. study suggests. Every year, more than 1,800 people nationwide are killed by intimate partners, and approximately half of these homicides are committed with firearms, researchers note in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Nearly all the victims are women.Over the past quarter-century, intimate partner homicide rates were 9.7 percent lower in states with domestic violence gun laws that kept offenders from getting or keeping firearms, and firearm-related intimate partner murder rates were 14 percent lower, the study found. ”

Nearly Half of All Murdered Women Are Killed by Romantic Partners, by Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, Jul 20 2017.

“Over half of the killings of American women are related to intimate partner violence, with the vast majority of the victims dying at the hands of a current or former romantic partner, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today. The CDC analyzed the murders of women in 18 states from 2003 to 2014, finding a total of 10,018 deaths. Of those, 55 percent were intimate partner violence-related, meaning they occurred at the hands of a former or current partner or the partner’s family or friends. In 93 percent of those cases, the culprit was a current or former romantic partner. ”

How Health Care Can Reduce Domestic Violence, by Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, Mar 9 2017.

“HAART, a combination of several HIV drugs, transformed HIV from a death sentence to a chronic, survivable condition, prolonging life by several decades...Now, a new NBER working paper suggests the treatment also gave a group of HIV-positive women a new lease on life—so much so that some of them quit using drugs and left their physically abusive partners. ”

Sexist men have psychological problems, by Sarah Kaplan, The Washington Post, Nov 22 2016.

“Researchers identified 11 norms considered to be “traditionally masculine” — desire to win, need for emotional control, risk-taking, violence, dominance, sexual promiscuity or playboy behavior, self-reliance, primacy of work, power over women, disdain for homosexuality and pursuit of status — and looked to see whether they were associated with particular mental health outcomes. In general, the men who stuck more strongly to these norms were more likely to experience problems such as depression, stress, body image issues, substance abuse and negative social functioning. They were also less likely to turn to counseling to help deal with those problems. The effect was particularly strong for men who emphasized playboy behavior, power over women and self-reliance. ”

Teen Stalking Victims at Higher Risk for Depression, Risky Behaviors, by Janice Wood, Psych Central, Nov 19 2016.

“A new study has found that 14 percent of girls and 13 percent of boys are victims of stalking. These teens are also more likely to report symptoms linked to depression, as well as risky behavior, including binge drinking and sexting, according to the study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. ”

Spousal abuse: The 'silent illness' driving women into homelessness, by Lisa De Bode, Aljazeera America, Aug 14 2015.

“Domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women, according to John Lozier, the executive director at the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC).That link is nothing new. A study of 220 homeless families in sheltered accommodation that was published in The American Journal of Public Health in 1997 found that two-thirds of mothers have a history of domestic violence. Yet medical practitioners don’t routinely screen for the abuse and aren’t trained to act on the symptoms, missing opportunities to rehabilitate women and help them stave off homelessness. ”