The Effect of Violence on the Diagnoses and the Course of Illness Among Female Psychiatric Inpatients

The aim of the study was to determine the rate of exposure to domestic violence among female inpatients at any period of their lives; to investigate the effect of different forms of violence on the diagnoses and the course of the illness.

The study was conducted on 102 female inpatients treated at Bakirkoy Research and Training Hospital for Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) was administered and socio-demographic and clinical data was collected. A form designed for the assessment of violence was used to evaluate domestic violence.

Ninety patients reported that they had been subjected to some kind of violence at some period of their lives. The parents or husbands were the most frequently reported persecutors. Seventy-three patients reported that they had been subjected to violence before the onset of their illness. Seventy-one had been subjected to physical, 79 to verbal, 42 to sexual, 52 to economic violence, and 49 to constraints on social relationship formation. Comorbid diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was related to all types of violence. The rate of suicide attempt was found to be significantly related to verbal-emotional violence. Only 12 patients had previously reported being subjected to domestic violence to their psychiatrist.

Domestic violence, an often overlooked phenomenon, is prevalent among women with psychiatric disorders. Subjection to domestic violence is found to be correlated with PTSD and suicidal attempt.