- [SPANISH VERSION]
- This is the world’s first whole-brain study to be conducted on women who have suffered intimate partner violence using structural magnetic resonance imaging.
- This Wednesday, the 25th of November, is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The BELIEVE project’s research team at the University of Granada (UGR) has found a series of brain alterations related to intimate partner violence among female survivors. Recently, they published these findings in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, making this the world’s first study to use Structural Magnetic Resonance imaging to assess ‘whole brain’ alterations in women who have experienced intimate partner violence.
This study, which was carried out at the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC abbreviation in Spanish), is the first to assess structural differences between female survivors and women who have not experienced intimate partner violence. The majority of neuroimaging studies carried out thus far with female survivors have focused on specific brain areas related to post-traumatic stress. The BELIEVE project’s study, however, has extended previous findings by assessing potential alterations in all brain regions.
Researchers Miguel Pérez and Natalia Hidalgo (UGR) explain that, “while it is well known that intimate partner violence is related to different types of consequences in female victims, only a few studies have been conducted on the brain alterations related to this type of violence.”
The study included 60 women between the ages of 18 and 62 (28 of whom were female survivors of intimate partner violence). Participants underwent Structural Magnetic Resonance imaging at the CIMCYC (UGR) in which whole-brain analyses were conducted, that is, 160 brain areas.
The results of this study showed structural differences between women who had not experienced intimate partner violence and female survivors in terms of area, volume and thickness in the lateral sulcus and the temporal, frontal, occipital, parietal and limbic areas. Female survivors of intimate partner violence showed less volume and surface area principally in the left and right temporal sulcus , the inferior frontal gyrus, the left anterior cingulate cortex, and the right precuneus.
In addition, morphological analyses showed a relationship between alterations in these regions and different potential causal mechanisms, such as adverse childhood experiences, posttraumatic stress as a results of partner violence, strangulation attempts, traumatic brain injury, and severity of violence.
“In our study, we found that a large number of survivors of intimate partner violence showed brain alterations. We also found that these alterations were associated with adverse childhood experiences, posttraumatic stress, strangulation attempts, and traumatic brain injuries caused by their partners. The alterations found may be explained by these possible causal mechanisms”, indicated Dr. Hidalgo.
One of the main contributions of these results is, precisely, the discovery of the complex relationship between different variables related to intimate partner violence and their association with brain differences between female survivors and women who have not experienced partner violence. Despite the fact that these alterations may have a significant impact on the daily lives of these women, they are typically neither studied nor evaluated among female survivors.
This Wednesday, the 25th of November, is the International Day for Eliminating Violence Against Women.
Reference:
Structural Brain Alterations in Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence. Julia C. Daugherty, Juan Verdejo-Román, Miguel Pérez-García and Natalia Hidalgo-Ruzzante. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1-34. doi 0886260520959621.
Two of the researchers from the University of Granada who have carried out this work: Miguel Pérez and Natalia A. Hidalgo.
Contacto:
Natalia A. Hidalgo Ruzzante
Department of Developmental Psychology and Education
The Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC abbreviation in Spanish) at the University of Granada
Phone number. 958 24 39 69
Cell: xxxx
Email: nhidalgo@ugr.es
