Violence and mental disorders are linked greatly. If a person is suffering from a mental disorder, he may react violently sometime. If a person has been exposed to severe violence in the past or currently, it can affect him/ her mentally. So, we can say violence and mental disorders go hand in hand.

What is violence?

Any intentional behavior that can hurt someone is called violence. It can be mental or emotional. There are many types of violence like physical force and verbal abuse like threatening oneself, another person, or any other group of people. Violence can be a complex issue. there can be different situations that can represent violence like forced marriage, invading the privacy of a person, rape and other sexual assaults, organ mutilation with force, forced abortion and sterilization, physical abuse of a family, partner, or in-laws, bullying, hate speech, body shamming, threatening, etc. Different nations and different governments have categorized violence according to them. In some countries speaking slang or speaking rudely to someone or threatening verbally can be considered as verbal abuse or violation and in some countries, it is not considered as a violation.

Physical violence does not only include physical force like beating, kicking, or punching. It also includes the use of weapons on someone to harm, human trafficking, and slavery. Every physical force that can cause any physical pain or injury can be considered physical violence. Children, youngsters, and women are the main victims of physical abuse. Many children are caught in violence mainly because of an act of revenge. Sexual violence can also be considered as a type of physical violence.

Verbal abuse or violence is very difficult to differentiate in regular speech. Sometimes friends or those who are close to each other tend to speak without honorifics and can use many types of informal words, but those can't be considered verbal attacks. Body shaming, slut shaming, bullying, using words that hurt the self-esteem and self-confidence of a person can consider verbal abuse. Verbal abuse or hate speech is the most difficult to recognize but is the most used method of violence. Using negative words like 'queer' and 'fag' can also be considered verbal abuse to the LGBTQ community. In the current world, the internet has been the main source of verbal violence, and it has affected many people.

Another important form of violence that is not considered violence in some countries is socio-economic violence. It is violence caused by a strong to a weak. It can also include the abuse caused by the dominant gender to weaker ones because of society and its rules. An objection to working women, denial of equality of salary in work, denial of education of girl child, denying to make girls be the heir of a family business, making men bear the financial responsibility alone, shaming men for sharing house chores, denying boys to show their emotional side to others, telling young boys not to cry and be strong always because crying is for girls and all other gender stereotypes that are imposed by the society can consider as socio-economic violence. Sometimes politicians and governments force certain laws which can also be considered as socio-economic violence.

How can violence be a cause of mental disorders?

Violence can be harmful both physically and mentally. Children and adolescents are mostly affected by violence. It creates a huge impact on their mind which can leave an imprint on them throughout their life. There can be many consequences of abuse like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, delusional disorder, hallucinations, etc. which can lead to depression, increased incidence of suicide, panic and anxiety attacks, and impaired social relations. Those who suffer from violence often shut themselves away from social and family gatherings. Children who have suffered from sexual abuse tend to be victimized as young adults. Elders who have suffered violence from their families, nursing homes, etc. tend to be victims of mental disorders like depression, memory loss, anxiety, etc. Sometimes they fail to create a healthy relationship with anyone. They couldn't trust people easily and couldn't make friends easily. Sometimes people with mental disorders can also commit acts of violence and crimes without realizing it. Many criminals may have suffered violence in the past and chose to be violent as a weapon to give themselves justice and to protect themselves. Some criminals who are suffering from mental illness choose violence as a game in which hurting and harming others relaxes them. People who are suffering from schizophrenia are more likely to harm themselves than others. For some mental disorders, people start to consume alcohol and drugs to drench away from their painful memories. Being always frustrated and agitated, having anger issues, being triggered by fear as if they are in danger, and experiencing psychotic breakdowns like having delusions are some symptoms of the aftermath of violence.

What are the medications for this kind of mental disorder?

For those, who are suffering from trauma due to mental or physical violence, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) can help them to recover and live a normal life. This kind of psychotherapy mainly focuses on trauma-related behavioral problems such as anxiety and panic attacks, depression, stress-eating disorders, personality disorders, etc.

EMDR, also known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, is a different kind of therapy that takes fewer sessions to help them recover. In this kind of therapy, the victim doesn’t need to explain himself/herself through words. Instead, they can make an eye movement or tap on the images that are more related to their trauma.

Psychotherapists may prescribe selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to recover from trauma.

Psychotherapy, journalling, group therapy, art therapy, and sports are some of the treatments for mental disorder patients who suffer violence. Mental illness is not a choice. It can happen to anyone, at any phase of life. Treating patients who are suffering should be done by experts by being calm, and by giving them some space, and time, with care and love.

Remember you are not alone and there is always hope for healing.

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