Violent Relationships: Acute and Long-term Implications

Relationships are essential in our life as human beings - and they are the indispensable basis for good mental health. Human development occurs through reciprocal interactions between the individual and their contexts and culture, with relationships as the key drivers. Their influence can be seen across generations and can produce intra- as well as intergenerational assets and risks. Healthy relationships may serve as a protective factor in the light of stressful experiences and provide a framework for healing. Social support and social integration confer a protective benefit against maladaptive behaviour and damaging health consequences. 

Disturbed relationships, on the contrary, may increase vulnerability and thus influence psychological and physical health negatively. Mistreatment and abuse in important relationships (especially with care givers) might act as a breeding ground for violence and greatest cruelty. Physical or sexual violence in childhood and intimate partner violence have more severe health consequences when combined with psychological violence like degrading behavior and coercive control. Ritualized and organized violence can shape personality development into disintegration. Interpersonal violence is a leading cause of death and disability globally, and impacts global health care expenditures and national economies. 

In turn, adverse relationship experiences are also predictive of altered attachment behavior and future victimization across the lifespan. The interplay between the experience of violence and the experience of healthy or disturbed relationships requires further examination. Aspects of this interplay and their implications for both mental and physical health as well as health care provision are to be gathered via this call. 

Guiding questions for this call include the following: How do pre-existing relationships influence the experience of violence and thus long-term health consequences? Are there links between violent relationships and psychobiological alterations? What do we know about the success of prevention of pathology following violence? Are there emerging therapeutic approaches on longterm consequences? What is the state of diagnostic and therapeutic knowledge on complex trauma sequelae? What are the findings on attachment-related techniques in psychotherapeutic procedures for trauma sequelae disorders? How can legal work, trauma-specific knowledge, and psychobiological findings be linked?

This Research Topic will be dedicated to a wide range of aspects related to the interplay between relationships and violence.

The following subtopics are highly warranted:

• Different types of interpersonal violence including its most severe forms

• Epidemiological aspects such as prevalences, risk factors, outcomes

• Associated psychobiological alterations (such as on the level of  psychoimmunology, psychoneuroendocrinology, epigenetics, and brain activation)

• Studies on treatment and counselling including helping alliances

• Legal aspects and victims’ rights

Articles ought to be primarily based on original research or comprise a systematic review (with meta-analysis, if possible). However, narrative literature reviews, brief research reports, and mini-reviews will also be considered. Empirical research should employ robust research designs, quantitative or qualitative.