Brain injury in battered women

Abstract

The goals of the present study were to examine (a) whether battered women in a sample of both shelter and nonshelter women are sustaining brain injuries from their partners and (b) if so, whether such brain injuries are associated with partner abuse severity, cognitive functioning, or psychopathology. Ninety-nine battered women were assessed using neuropsychological, psychopathology, and abuse history measures. Almost three quarters of the sample sustained at least 1 partner-related brain injury and half sustained multiple partner-related brain injuries. Further, in a subset of women (n = 57), brain injury severity was negatively associated with measures of memory, learning, and cognitive flexibility and was positively associated with partner abuse severity, general distress, anhedonic depression, worry, anxious arousal, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology.