Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.” This chapter focuses on the psychiatric management of two particular types of violence: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Sexual Violence (SV). The common themes across both of these types of violence are the use of violence as an expression of power, control, and domination, and the extensive serious physical and psychological harm for survivors. The first section reviews the prevalence of these problems and describes who is at risk. The second section outlines management issues on initial presentation of acute IPV and SV in adults and includes medical stability and safety in addition to early psychological interventions. Attention is then directed to long-term mental health sequelae, including the management of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for victims in both groups.