Violence takes mental health toll on women

Women who experience any form of gender-based violence are at greater risk of mental health disorders and related dysfunction and disability, according to Australian researchers Wednesday. Those who'd been through at least one form of this abuse -- which includes intimate partner violence, rape, sexual assault, or stalking -- were almost three times more likely to experience a mental health condition than those who were never victimized, according to Susan Rees, PhD of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and her colleagues. Those who'd experienced three or four forms had an 11-fold greater risk, reported in the Aug. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study "reveals a pattern of social disadvantage, disability, and impaired quality of life among women who have experienced gender-based violence," the researchers wrote.