Women who experience domestic abuse are three times as likely to develop mental illness

Women who have experienced domestic abuse have three times the risk of developing a mental illness, including severe conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, compared with those who have not, according to new research.1

The retrospective study, the first UK cohort study looking at the associations between domestic abuse and mental illness, reported a “strong association” between exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and the incidence of mental illness.

The researchers, from the University of Birmingham, said that although they could not show a causal relationship—because of the study …