Intimate partner violence:A loop of abuse,depression and victimization

Intimate partner violence has been recognized as a serious public health issue.Exposure to violence contributes to the genesis of,and exacerbates,mental health conditions,and existing mental health problems increase vulnerability to partner violence,a loop that imprisons victims and perpetuates the abuse.A recently described phenomenon is when male violence against females occurs within intimate relationships during youth,and it is termed adolescent or teen dating violence.In this narrative review,factors associated with intimate partner violence and consequences of exposure of children to parental domestic violence are discussed,along with possible intensification of violence against women with the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and subsequent lockdown.Intervention programs with a multicomponent approach involving many health care settings and research have a pivotal role in developing additional strategies for addressing violence and to provide tailored interventions to victims.Prevention policy with a particular attention on healthy child and adolescent development is mandatory in the struggle against all forms of violence.

Pregnancy-related psychopathology:A comparison between pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19–related social restriction periods

BACKGROUND The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic impacted in a still undefined way pregnant women’s mental health.There are reports of mood and affect changes in the general population and the suggestion that similar changes occur also in the pregnant population.The greater vulnerability of women during the COVID-19 restriction period may translate into a greater risk for mental disorders in the gestational period.We hypothesised that pregnant women in the prepandemic period would have less psychopathology and more psychological support than pregnant women during the pandemic restriction period.AIM To compare pregnant women for anxiety,prenatal depression,psychopathology,and social support before and after the awareness of the pandemic.METHODSWe administered to women willing to participate in their 2nd-3rd trimesters of pregnancy theEdinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale(EPDS),the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y(STAI-Y),and the Symptom CheckList-90-Revised(SCL-90R);we further collected sociodemographicvariables and explored women’s social support.The comparison was cross-sectional.The firstsample was termed nonCOVID-19 because data were gathered before the COVID-19 outbreak(January 2020-February 2020)was declared,and the second sample termed COVID-19 becauseparticipants were already subjected to the COVID-19-related restrictive measures(January 2021-February 2021).Since normal distribution was not met(Shapiro-Wilk test applied),we appliednonparametric Mann-Whitney’s U-test to compare psychometric tests.Ethical standards were met.RESULTSThe nonCOVID-19 group reported higher support from partners only,while the COVID-19 groupreported multiple support(χ^(2)=9.7181;P=0.021);the nonCOVID-19 group scored higher than theCOVID-19 group only on state anxiety among psychometric scales[STAI-Y1,nonCOVID-19median=39(95%CI:39.19-51.10)vs COVID-19 median=32(95%CI:30.83-38.90);Mann-Whitney’sU=117.5,P=0.00596].Other measures did not differ meaningfully between the two groups.Scoreson the EPDS,the state and trait subscales of the STAI-Y,and most SCL-90R subscales intercorrelatedwith one another.The anxiety component of the EPDS,EPDS-3A,correlated poorlywith other measures,while it was the Global Symptom Index of the SCL-90-R that correlated moststrongly with most measures.Our results are at odds with most literature and do not confirmincreased depression and anxiety rates in pregnant women during the pandemic.CONCLUSIONThe ability of pregnant women to deal with novel generalised threats involves mobilization ofinner resources.Increasing sources of social support may have produced anxiolysis in the COVID-19 sample.