Review

A few home truths

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND HEALTH: the response of the medical profession
Emma Williamson
The Policy Press, 2000

Emma Williamson states her research aims clearly in the opening pages. They include an examination of the medicalisation (or not) of the issue of domestic violence, and the subsequent implications for practitioners and patients.

She interviewed a small number of women (33) whose lives had been damaged by domestic violence, and examined how doctors perceived the issue, and responded to it. Statistics from Refuge suggest that one in four women in the UK is subject to serious domestic violence at some point during their life. If domestic violence has been part of your personal or professional life, this book’s findings will not startle or surprise you. But if you are one of those who have never been touched by this massive (and largely hidden) health issue, then I would urge you to consider this book very seriously.

To imagine that domestic violence is not a health issue is to miss the point completely for thousands of women who are suffering ongoing, secret misery, and desperately trying to discover who they can trust and where they might go for help. And to dismiss a woman who has been abused simply because she later cannot or will not substantiate her claim, is to misunderstand domestic violence.

A violent abuser will threaten a victim to the point of death to conceal or justify their practice. Victims sometimes feel that the only way out of their misery is to end their own lives and suicide (or attempted suicide) is still regarded by some professionals as delusional or attention-seeking behaviour.

Abusers are usually very plausible liars, whereas victims quickly lose the strength to be credible witnesses.

Your response to a person who trusts you with this terrible secret might well be crucial. This book will help you to gain a clearer insight into the true nature of domestic violence as a health issue. You could be saving a life – or two or three.