Department of Sociology, Social Science Centre, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, Canada.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2012 Sep;47(9):1527-37. doi: 10.1007/s00127-011-0459-4. Epub 2011 Dec 2.
One of the primary mental health responses of women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) is depression, yet little is known about the mental health and antidepressant use of women in the period after leaving an abusive partner. We investigate patterns of antidepressant use and depressive symptoms by various social indicators (parenting status, socioeconomic status, severity of abuse and disclosure of abuse). Second, we examine whether variation in antidepressant use is explained by higher rates of depression diagnoses and/or depressive symptoms, taking these social indicators into consideration.
We examine data from the Women's Health Effects Study, a community sample of 309 Canadian women who have recently left an abusive partner.
Bivariate results reveal that over 80% of women with elevated depressive symptoms are without diagnosis and antidepressant medication. Multivariate analyses show that antidepressant use is predicted by an indicator of economic disadvantage, with women who receive social assistance or disability benefits being more likely to report elevated antidepressant use, controlling for both depressive symptoms and depression diagnoses.
Documenting and explaining depressive symptoms and antidepressant use among IPV survivors provides insight into one of many possible treatment options available to women with depression, and sheds light on potential health disparities among this subgroup of the population.
遭受亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）的女性的主要心理健康反应之一是抑郁，但对于离开虐待伴侣后的女性的心理健康和抗抑郁药使用情况知之甚少。我们通过各种社会指标（育儿状况、社会经济地位、虐待严重程度和虐待披露）研究抗抑郁药使用和抑郁症状的模式。其次，我们研究了抗抑郁药使用的差异是否可以通过更高的抑郁诊断率和/或抑郁症状来解释，同时考虑这些社会指标。
我们检查了来自妇女健康影响研究的数据，这是一个由 309 名最近离开虐待伴侣的加拿大妇女组成的社区样本。
双变量结果显示，超过 80%的有抑郁症状升高的妇女没有被诊断和使用抗抑郁药物。多变量分析表明，抗抑郁药的使用由经济劣势的指标预测，接受社会援助或残疾福利的妇女更有可能报告抗抑郁药的使用增加，同时控制抑郁症状和抑郁诊断。
记录和解释 IPV 幸存者的抑郁症状和抗抑郁药使用情况，为有抑郁症状的妇女提供了一种可能的治疗选择，并揭示了这一人群中潜在的健康差异。
