Citation

Popa S. Rom. J. Leg. Med. 2006; 14(3): 199-208.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Romanian Legal Medicine Society)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Family violences are at the origin of many physical and mental illnesses, of frequent consultations, hospitalizations and of temporary work disabilities, as well as of a high consumption of medication and other health services. The effects of violence against women are instant as well as lasting. There are four types of violence against women: emotional, physical, sexual and social. As a victim of a violent partner, the woman suffers physically, mentally and reproductively. The more severe is the violence, the more profound is the impact upon the physical and mental health. The psychological and behavioral consequences are multiple and they are exteriorized through: anxiety, fear, depression, humiliation, guilt, sleep trouble, alimentation dysfunctions, low self esteem, post traumatic stress, self-mutilation, alcohol and drugs consumption in excess, suicidal thoughts, sexual behavior at risk, etc.The lethal consequences are the following: mortality caused by SIDA, maternal mortality, homicide, and suicide. If there is no intervention to put an end to domestic violence, from one incident to another the severity of the aggressions accentuate. As the risk is rising, the victim's capacity to protect itself is decreasing. The consequences upon the physical, mental and reproductive health combine in a complex way, which explains the complexity of global consequences of family violence. Therefore, the consequences of domestic violence can be felt at various levels: especially at the level of the victim itself, of its family and most of all at the level of the kids, the collectivity in which they live, the medical and legal system, and, of course, at the level of the authors of these types of violence. The physical and sexual violences against women can cause physical invalidities and the psychological problems provoked by violence can be taken as invalidity, making difficult for the women to have a normal behaviour. When violence is an usual context in a family, even the children can be victims. The consequences of violence are profound and can have a greater influence than health and the individually well-being state upon the "health" state of the entire community. The abused women have difficulties regarding the access to information as well as to the existing health services. In other words, the consequences of domestic violence can persist for a long time after the actual act of violence and the long time repercussions of the various types and of the multiple episodes of violence are cumulative. © 2006 Romanian Society of Legal Medicine.

Language: romanian

Keywords

human; domestic violence; sexual abuse; Sexual violence; depression; Physical violence; wellbeing; posttraumatic stress disorder; maternal mortality; article; mental disease; Human immunodeficiency virus infection; health service; physical disease; social aspect; emotion; health status; sexually transmitted disease; women's health; Emotional violence; Invalidity; Social violence