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Patterns Of Depressive Symptoms And Antidepressant Use Among Women Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence, Lorraine Davies, Jinette Comeau

Lorraine Davies

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Methods

We examine data from the Women’s Health Effects Study, a community …