Mental Health of Women Affected by Gender-based Violence: A Neglected Public Health Domain.

Abstract

Gender-based violence or violence against women is a global pandemic affecting 736 million women across the world. India is considered quite ahead in terms of women empowerment, but data about violence against Indian women point out that we are still leaps behind. When health impacts of gender-based violence against women are considered, mental health impacts are often overlooked. This article aims to highlight a hidden pandemic of mental health impact of gender-based violence on women and to come up with long-term solutions to tackle it. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for articles on "gender-based violence " AND "mental health." Various documents were also searched to look for strategies to tackle mental health impact of violence on women. There is still a long way to go as far as mental health consequences of abuse on women are concerned. We are still just focussing on the physical injuries when the majority of medical help is considered. Counseling sessions and psychotherapy sessions along with screening of women at all OPDs are the long-term solutions.