Posted on: 28 November 2023
On the fourth day of the White Ribbon Campaign, the Community Milton Keynes Neurological Conditions Service has pledged to prioritise the prevention of domestic abuse in the way it delivers care.
Mental health, sexual health and maternal health impacts of domestic abuse are widely reported, but other physical consequences, such as neurological impacts, often receive less attention.
Happily, studies exploring the neurological effects of domestic abuse are becoming more prevalent. Research so far has found:
- Victims of intimate partner violence were more likely to report headaches, migraines, and other neurological symptoms (Karakurt et al 2017)
- Repeated assaults on the head and loss of consciousness can cause brain tissue degeneration resulting in fatigue, depression and mood changes, memory loss, confusion, aggression, impaired judgment, and difficulty with everyday tasks. It can also lead to dementia and other chronic health conditions (Langlois, Rutland-Brown, & Wald, 2006)
- Strangulation is found to be the second most common cause of stroke in women under 40 (Malek et al., 2000).
Due to findings such as the above, CNWL’s Domestic Abuse Policy states that domestic abuse routine enquiry should be conducted as standard practice across all clinical services across the trust.
Domestic abuse does not discriminate and will cut across all services and the impact will also manifest across wide range of health conditions, not just the obvious ones.
Please keep an eye out on comms for further information on the Milton Keynes Safety Pledge to address domestic abuse. This will also be showcased at the CNWL Domestic Abuse Awareness Conference on 7 December. Please also register for this event and share with your colleagues.
A schedule for the day can be found here.
