Domestic abuse and mental health: the amplified risks created during the pandemic

Abstract

SUMMARY No recent pandemic has had such a severe socioeconomic impact as COVID-19. Significant economic uncertainty and social restrictions have led to increased levels of stress for many. There has been increased social isolation, financial stress and alcohol intake, all of which can increase domestic abuse and other forms of household abuse. Increases in abuse in the home found in other public health emergencies and economic recessions can be seen now – reported UK domestic abuse rates have increased since the start of COVID-19. This article focuses on how COVID-19 and its anticipated aftermath exacerbate the risk factors for domestic abuse in the general population and discusses clinical implications for mental health practitioners in the UK. It aims to provide a point of learning based on previous disease outbreaks and recessions, with a focus on specific factors, such as unemployment and alcohol misuse, and how these contribute to increasing incidence and severity of abuse – and more importantly, how mental health professionals can mitigate these for patients, 1 in 3 of whom are estimated to have already experienced abuse before the COVID-19 pandemic.

How mothers talk about their relationship with their young sons following intimate partner violence and the implications for intergenerational prevention and systemic intervention

“…A recent systematic review found evidence to support the use of family therapy in the reduction of IPV (Stith et al, 2022). Ecological models can also take wider social factors into account, linking immediate familial risk factors with the poverty, mental health problems and substance misuse problems that underpin family and community level violence (Hisham et al, 2021). Julie below illustrates the importance of these wider factors that influence mother-child relational development.…”

“…A recent systematic review found evidence to support the use of family therapy in the reduction of IPV (Stith et al, 2022). Ecological models can also take wider social factors into account, linking immediate familial risk factors with the poverty, mental health problems and substance misuse problems that underpin family and community level violence (Hisham et al, 2021). Julie below illustrates the importance of these wider factors that influence mother-child relational development.“Through my pregnancy I was still drinking cos I thought that it would go away (laughs) and I didn’t tell my mum and dad and I was just messed up you know mentally and I think from postnatal depression from (older sons name) and all the stuff that had gone wrong with (older sons name) and (sons name) dad I just didn’t want to believe I was pregnant.” Julie…”

Mitigating the increased risk of domestic abuse among people with mental illness: challenges and opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Individuals known to mental health services are disproportionately affected by domestic violence and abuse and the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated the risk factors for violence and abuse to which this population are exposed. Hisham et al (2022, this issue) consider how mental health professionals can reduce exposure to these modifiable factors during the pandemic among their patients.…”