While it came as a surprise to Lisbet, domestic violence survivors often need mental health care. Like veterans of wars or victims of human trafficking, these survivors have often been subjected to prolonged periods of extreme stress and fear for their safety, which is harmful to the health of both body and brain. The need is widespread: An estimated one in four women and one in seven men in the United States experience severe physical violence at the hand of an intimate partner in their lifetime.

Californians in general struggle to find and afford mental health treatment, but the access difficulties are magnified for survivors. These access challenges are often compounded by practical, cultural, and linguistic barriers, including—as in Lisbet’s case—the overwhelming nature of domestic violence, health insurance limitations, stigma, and fear of turning to authorities for help.

Experts who spoke with the California Health Report say the state should do more to help domestic violence survivors and their children access mental health support by providing additional funding to domestic violence agencies to expand mental health services, requiring insurers to better cover mental health care and reimburse providers fairly, and incentivizing more people to enter behavioral health professions. Some advocates and survivors also call for reimagining criminal justice and child welfare responses to domestic violence to reduce the risk of penalizing or alienating victims.

People in abusive relationships are often under incredible stress, and their partners may control their access to health care, making it difficult for them to seek help. One study of California residents found that adult survivors of intimate partner violence were three times more likely than nonsurvivors to report serious psychological distress. Survivors’ children are also at heightened risk for mental health challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder and difficulty regulating emotions, even if they witness the abuse but don’t experience the violence directly, studies show.

Read the full article about mental healthcare by Claudia Boyd-Barrett at YES! Magazine.