Gender violence, trauma, and its impact on women's mental health

Psychological trauma arising from gender violence is a significant life sit uation in Indian women's lives. This dimension of trauma has rarely been st udied through mental health research, and remains within the ambit of law r eform and enforcement, and prevention. A statistical correlation between tr auma and mental illness has not been achieved yet, but a close relationship is extrapolated from significantly high rates of violence and mental illne ss in specific cases, as the recent study by Interventions For Support Heal ing and Awareness (1994) has shown. The perceptions and practice of mainstr eam mental health professionals about gender violence fails to recognise th e psychological trauma women are exposed to. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is a useful diagnosis to be used in the measurement, assessment, and manag ement of trauma from gender violence. It is rarely used in cases of sexual and physical violence.