Venue: Centre Broca Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Juan Verdejo Roman
Center for Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience
Invited by Michel Thiebaut de Schotten (IMN)
Title
Neuropsychological and cerebral sequelae of Intimate Partner Violence
Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV), understood as the violence against women by their male partner or ex-partner and based on the sex / gender system, is a social and public health priority problem worldwide.
According to the latest reports from the World Health Organization, one in three women over the age of 15 in the world has suffered physical or sexual violence by her partner or ex-partner throughout her life and 38% of all murders of women in the world are committed by their current or former partner (WHO, 2021). So far, it has been found that anxiety, depression or the development of post- traumatic stress disorder, as well as neuropsychological and brain disorders are some of the consequences of this type of violence (Chandan et al., 2019; Daugherty et al., 2019; Daugherty et al., 2020).
However, there is insufficient evidence of the effect that blows to the head, especially when repeated and sustained over time, have on these women. Identifying the specific sequelae of repeated brain trauma and their combined effect with psychological violence, as well as identifying the possible mechanisms underlying these consequences, can have a major impact on the health care and psychological assistance that women survivors of intimate partner violence should receive.
Therefore, the general aim of the project will be to study the neuropsychological and brain sequelae related to having suffered repeated blows to the head in women survivors of intimate partner violence. We hypothesize that women who have received repeated blows to the head will have a greater number of neuropsychological and cerebral sequelae compared to other IPV survivors who have only suffered one blow and to those who have suffered psychological abuse. Furthermore, these alterations will have different characteristics than those caused by accidental blows, as traffic accidents.
For this, 225 women belonging to five experimental groups will be selected (IPV survivors with repeated blows, IPV survivors with a single blow, IPV survivors of psychological abuse, Women who have suffered TBI but not IPV and Controls who have not suffered neither TBI or IPV). They will take part in a comprehensive neuropsychological and neuroimaging evaluation. Additionally, and to explore whether the effect of repeated blows may be related to mechanisms of neuronal deterioration such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), blood samples will be taken to search for biomarkers related to this type of dementia.