Celena Henry claims she can’t remember how many times she was struck in the head by her abuser, but she can clearly recall the moment she made the decision to leave him.
Henry, who is now 47, recounted, “My feet left the floor, my body slammed against the wall, and I slid down to the floor.” I recall that things were a little spinny since my head had hit the cabinet.
On the other side of the door, Henry could hear her two small sons yelling, “Don’t hurt mama.” Because she believed it would be the last time she would hear their cries, she recalls concentrating on them.
Then she lost consciousness. She picked up the boys and went out as soon as she was conscious again.
In the years that followed, Henry started to have memory issues, concentration issues, and chronic headaches. She was assaulted by someone else’s abuser while serving as an advocate for victims of domestic violence, and her symptoms worsened, especially her inability to balance.
After seven years of inability to diagnose her condition, she was eventually given a traumatic brain injury at West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute’s Concussion and Brain Injury Center, which was linked to years of recurrent head trauma.
Having a diagnosis was a relief, and for the first time during this entire process of being unwell and having to quit my job, I felt hopeful, something I had never experienced before, Henry said.
Although traumatic brain injury in sports has gained more attention, experts claim that TBI in victims of domestic abuse is frequently disregarded and misdiagnosed.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), about one in four women had been victims of domestic abuse, and research indicates that up to 90% of those women have suffered at least one traumatic brain injury. There is a dearth of national research on domestic abuse and brain injury.
According to Rachel Ramirez, director of health and disability services and the founder of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network’s Center on Partner-Inflicted Brain Injury, “we don’t have general population data.” However, head injury rates are extremely high in almost all studies conducted with organizations that have domestic violence in their name or mission.
According to Ramirez’s own research, more than 80% of survivors polled by domestic violence shelters report experiencing abuse, such as head injuries and strangulation, which can cause brain damage.
The Department of Health and Human Services should enhance government data on the frequency of brain damage among survivors of domestic abuse, according to a 2020 study published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
It’s critical to understand the prevalence of brain injury among survivors, according to Shannon Legeer, who worked on the report and is a member of the GAO’s health care team.
Understanding the scope and how it connects to all the other significant public health concerns in our nation is crucial to determining what needs to be done, she said.
Dr. Javier C. Rdenas, the founder and director of the West Virginia Brain Injury Center, stated that the brain need time to heal following a concussion.
According to Crdenas, these people are struck, then struck again, and if their symptoms worsen, they may experience brain hemorrhage or edema. Because of these frequent brain injuries, kids never have a chance to recover and are more likely to suffer long-term problems.
If doctors fail to identify or screen for TBI, a victim of domestic abuse cannot receive assistance. Nearly 80% of survivors of domestic violence who report events to the police seek medical attention in emergency rooms, yet the majority are never recognized as abuse victims, according to a 2011 research. Many people with severe brain injury never obtain medical treatment, according to a 2021 University of Nebraska study.
A primary author of the 2021 study and an expert on intimate partner violence at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health, Shireen Rajaram, attributed the lack of awareness to a variety of factors, including healthcare professionals and domestic violence support providers.
“It’s just missed repeatedly,” Rajaram remarked. When women seek assistance from community organizations, they may have other urgent needs, such as a protection order, housing, or child care. Therefore, responding to inquiries regarding being struck in the head is not a top priority, particularly if you are not well-informed about this problem.
Brain injuries are easy to overlook, according to Dr. Ryan Stanton, a Kentucky emergency physician and board member of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
According to Stanton, screening is done in most emergency rooms, frequently during triage. However, the problem with intimate partner violence is that it is quite uncommon for someone to present with that as their main complaint, so you need to be able to recognize the warning signs and the things that don’t make sense.
Because symptoms may appear after a first hospital visit, diagnosing brain injuries can be challenging, according to Denver Supinger, director of advocacy and government relations at the Brain Injury Association of America. Victims might not be aware of it until they are unable to work due to speech difficulties or light or noise sensitivities.
Cardenas is the head of the Concussion and Brain Injury Center at WVU’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, where medical professionals collaborate with the emergency room and nearby domestic violence organizations to enhance screening and recommend survivors for clinic care. Patients who have experienced domestic abuse are treated as VIPS by the specialist program, which grants them priority access to physical, visual, and balance therapy as well as therapeutic therapies like light and float therapy. A few of the therapy rooms have the appearance of spa rooms.
According to Cardenas, there need to be some kind of screening for concussions and brain injuries wherever a victim of domestic abuse goes.
After undergoing treatment at the clinic, Henry reported feeling better both emotionally and physically. In a circumstance where I felt helpless, it gave me a little more power.
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