Psychological abuse can harm women's, men's health
In fact, abuse that takes the form of constant yelling or put-downs can be as damaging to a person's health as physical abuse, researchers report.
Looking at national survey data from nearly 14,000 adults, they found that 29% of women and 23% of men had suffered some sort of abuse from an intimate partner during their lives. Women were much more likely than men to report physical or sexual abuse, but more than 17% of men reported psychological abuse, as did 12% of women.
For both men and women, such victimization was tied to poorer overall health, including higher risks of depression, chronic physical and psychological conditions, and substance abuse.
Dr. Ann L. Coker, of the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, and her colleagues report the findings in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
It is well-established that intimate partner violence takes a heavy toll on the victim's mental health, but the long-term effects on physical health, particularly among men, is less clear, the study authors note. And the effects of psychological abuse--which includes chronic yelling, put-downs and efforts to limit a partner's ties to friends and family--have received much less research attention than physical abuse.
But in this study, Coker's team reports, psychological abuse accounted for almost half of the abuse reported by women and 78% of that reported by men.
"Furthermore," they write, "psychological intimate partner violence was as strongly related as physical (abuse) to the range of health outcomes."
According to the researchers, their findings suggest that doctors need to also consider psychological victimization when asking patients about abuse.
They note, however, that current abuse-screening guidelines for women may not apply to males. For men, they explain, the situation is more complicated because many men who report abuse may themselves be the primary abuser in the relationship.
"To our knowledge," Coker and her colleagues write, "published treatment and referral recommendations for males who are...victims do not exist. This issue deserves further careful study."
Last Updated: 10/25/2002
Copyright © 2005 Reuters News Agency.
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