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Abstract
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The constraint of human mobility to homes that has resulted from governmental responses to COVID-19 has been associated with a probable rise in domestic abuse.1
Although domestic abuse (defined as behaviour that causes harm to intimate partners or family members) is common throughout society, women and children are disproportionately affected as victims. National health-care quality standards recognise that domestic abuse causes avoidable morbidity in victims and is an important indicator for patient safety.2
Growing evidence suggests correlation between mental illness and perpetration of domestic abuse.3
It is important to avoid incorrect causal attribution of domestic abuse perpetration to mental illness, which risks exacerbating mental health stigma, as well as contributing to a misunderstanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse. However, irrespective of causal relationships between mental illness and domestic abuse, mental health services might be treating patient populations with a higher prevalence of domestic abuse perpetration than the general population. Understanding this pattern could help to increase the safety of partners and family members, in line with draft statutory guidance on domestic abuse perpetrators...
Language: en |