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Domestic violence can affect victims’ brain health for life, study suggests

2025-06-09 - 2025-06

Women who are victims of domestic violence are at a higher risk of traumatic brain injury and mental health conditions for many years after the abuse has ended, a study has found.

Almost one in three women around the world experience domestic violence, and researchers say the impact on mental health – such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – can last for decades.

The study, by the University of Glasgow and published in the journal BMJ Mental Health, explored the mental health consequences associated with domestic violence and traumatic brain injury.

The paper – Intimate partner violence, traumatic brain injury and long-term mental health outcomes in mid-life: The Drake IPV study – looked at data from 632 participants aged between 40 and 59.

Fourteen per cent reported having a history of domestic violence with physical abuse.

Compared with unexposed participants, those with a history of intimate partner violence-physical abuse (IPV-PA) were associated with a higher exposure of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and a higher lifetime and ongoing diagnoses of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders andPTSD.

The analysis also found that even after an average of 27 years since exposure to IPV-PA, the risk of mental health disorders remained just as high.

The study concluded: “Among those reporting exposure to IPV-PA, the majority reported a history of repetitive blows to the head and mild TBI. A history of TBI, in turn, was associated with evidence of adverse mental health outcomes.

“These observations offer initial insights into the potential lifelong brain health consequences of intimate partner violence with physical abuse.

“Given the global prevalence of intimate partner violence, particularly among women, these findings highlight a pressing need for further research in this field, as well as for targeted interventions to raise awareness among policymakers and medical professionals about the potential impact of intimate partner violence with physical abuse on health outcomes across the lifespan.”

The work was funded by the Drake Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Medical Research Council, NHS Research Scotland, the Alzheimer’s Society, and the Alzheimer’s Association.

Prof Willie Stewart said: “Given its prevalence, these findings highlight domestic violence as a public health issue with potential for long-lasting impacts on brain health. Our work also reinforces the need for more research in this previously neglected area.”

Dr Graciela Muniz-Terrera, a co-author of the report, said: “This study highlights the importance of including questions about domestic violence in population research to advance our knowledge about its long-term effects.”

Poor mental health as child limits capacity to work in later life, study finds

2025-05-19 - 2025-05

Children in Great Britain with serious mental health conditions are two-thirds more likely to have a limited ability to work in adulthood, according to research from a leading thinktank.

The report by researchers at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) looked at data from about 6,000 people who took part in the 1970 British Cohort Study, which is following the lives of individuals born in a single week in 1970 across Great Britain.

The analysis found that people who had severe mental and behavioural issues as a child were 85% more likely to have symptoms of depression at the age of 51, and 68% more likely to have a long-term condition that affects their ability to work.

Children with a physical health problem were 38% more likely to have limited capacity for work in later life, according to the analysis.

The government has pledged to “raise the healthiest generation of children in our history”. Labour has committed to introducing a targeted national dental hygiene programme, cutting paediatric waiting times with 2m more operations, and setting a 9pm watershed for junk food advertising.

The IPPR recommended the government safeguard spending on children and preventive spending in the NHS and other public services, and expand the role of the children’s commissioner.

In January, the Guardian reported that the number of children referred to emergency mental healthcare in England had risen by 10% in a year, with lengthy waiting lists for regular NHS care pushing more to crisis point.

Previous research by the IPPR estimated that the hidden cost of rising workplace sickness in the UK with employees now losing the equivalent of 44 days of productivity because of working through sickness, up from 35 days in 2018.

Amy Gandon, an associate fellow at the thinktank and a former senior government official on children’s health, said: “Successive governments have failed to face up to the long-term consequences of poor child health. If this government is serious about building a preventative state, it must act decisively to improve the prospects of our children and young people.

“What’s more, the dividends from doing so need not be decades away; the right action now – for example, for those joining the workforce within a few years – can deliver better health, opportunity and growth within this parliament.”

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Domestic violence can affect victims’ brain health for life, study suggests

Poor mental health as child limits capacity to work in later life, study finds