NCJ Number
148472
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (1993) Pages: 53-68
Date Published
1993
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined the prevalence of mental disorders in 62 battered women who were receiving services from a Florida battered woman agency.
Abstract
The researchers used the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, which is a 263-item structured interview used in the National Institute of Mental Health Epidemiological Catchment Area program conducted in the early 1980's. Of the total sample of battered women, 30 were in a shelter operated by the agency, and 32 were living in their own homes and receiving assistance from the agency. Resultant diagnoses met diagnostics criteria developed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (third edition) of the American Psychiatric Association. The Diagnostic Interview Schedule permits the use of 10,953 females in the epidemiological study as a comparison group of normal women. Scoring of the interviews was done by a computer diagnostic program with absolute decision rules. Extremely high prevalence was found for psychosexual dysfunction, major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder. These diagnoses apparently reflect the major components of the battered woman syndrome developed by Lenore Walker, and the study approximates Walker's request for improved methodology in the research into the psychology of the battered woman. 4 tables and 54 references