How Does Abuse Affect Mental Health?

Mental Health Issues During an Abusive Relationship

If you have experienced Intimate Partner Violence, you may experience many emotions — anger, confusion, fear, or even a sense of numbness, or an inability to connect with any emotions at all. You could also feel a misplaced sense of shame or guilt over what you’re experiencing.

The trauma associated with Intimate Partner Violence can lead to many psychological problems. These can include: 

• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse
• Poor self esteem
• Inability to trust / develop future relationships
• No sexual desire / unsafe sexual behaviour
• Body image issues
• Eating disorders (this is an attempt to control one aspect of your life when you feel you have no control elsewhere)
• Sleep disorders (eg. due to fear, rumination, or anxiety)
• PTSD (including flashbacks, being easily startled, memory issues, nightmares, angry outbursts or mood swings, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts and feelings as a result of experiencing trauma.)
• Suicidal Ideation

While remaining in the abusive relationship, these mental health issues grow and worsen. Although you may attempt to hide the abuse from others, emotional issues such as these can become noticeable to those around you, and they may suspect things are not as they seem.   (Read here about why victims stay in abusive relationships.)

Mental Health Issues After Leaving an Abusive Relationship

It can take considerable time to adjust to an abuse-free life where you can experience a sense of safety. This is especially so if the abuse was carried out over a long period of time. Healing takes patience and persistence. It will require you to draw on all your strengths and resources to rebuild your sense of self. This is a period where a great deal of support is required.



In The End ....

You need to know that what happened was not you’re fault. You also need to know that you are not alone. The earlier you can get psychological support, the more you prevent long term mental health issues, and the sooner you can start to feel safe and live the life you deserve. 

Crisis Support contact numbers can be found on FAQ page here.

To find out more about Relationship Counselling click here, or go to Contact Page to make an enquiry. 

NOTES:   Abuse Terminology:

To clarify some terminology in this article the following may be helpful.

ABUSE - The terms “Domestic and Family Abuse”, “Intimate Partner Violence”, “Domestic Violence” ….. are often used interchangeably. According to the AIHW (Australian Institute Health and Welfare) “Domestic Violence” is a set of violent or intimidating behaviours, usually perpetrated by current or former intimate partners, where a partner aims to exert power and control over the other, through fear. The AIHW states that Domestic Violence includes behaviours such as:

• physical violence (eg, hitting, choking, slapping, kicking and beating, use of weapons)
• sexual violence (eg, unwanted touching, rape/forced sexual intercourse, and other forms of sexual coercion)
• emotional/psychological abuse (eg. intimidating, humiliating, insults, belittling, verbal abuse, making threats)
• coercive control (eg. controlling access to finances, monitoring movements, isolating from friends and family, restricting employment, education or access to medical care).

Unfortunately, some in society still only consider it a crime to leave marks on their partners body, and they disregard the scars that can be left on a victim mentally.

VICTIM/SURVIVOR - There can be differences of opinion on whether to use the word “Victim” or “Survivor” when talking about those experiencing abuse. Both terms have their place and serve different purposes. Under federal law, a "victim" means “an individual who suffers direct or threatened physical, financial, or emotional harm as a result of the commission of a crime”. “Victim” is a legal definition necessary within the criminal justice system. “Survivor” is often used elsewhere as a term of empowerment to convey that a person has started the healing process and may have gained a sense of safety in their life.

GENDER – While statistics show that the majority of abuse victims are female, it should be noted that victims can be male, female, and LGBTIQ.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2015, reports that People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex or queer (LGBTIQ) experience intimate partner violence at similar rates as those who identify as heterosexual. Unfortunately, there has been less research conducted on this group at this point, so specific statistics are harder to locate.