This story is a part of a partnership that features KJZZ, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
This story might be republished free of charge (details).
Hundreds of survivors of home violence have come by the doorways of neurologist Glynnis Zieman’s Phoenix clinic up to now three years.
“The domestic violence patients are the next chapter of brain injury,” she mentioned.
Zieman begins each new affected person go to with a easy query: “What are the symptoms you hope I can help you with?”
For most, it’s the primary time anybody has ever requested how they could have been injured within the first place. “I actually heard one patient tell me the only person who ever asked her if someone did this to her was a paramedic, as she was being wheeled into an ambulance,” Zieman mentioned. “And the husband was at the foot of her stretcher.”
While many sufferers initially hunt down the clinic due to bodily signs, reminiscent of complications, exhaustion, dizziness or issues sleeping, Zieman’s analysis exhibits that nervousness, despair and PTSD often find yourself being essentially the most extreme issues, she mentioned.
Studies of traumatic mind damage have revealed hyperlinks to dementia and reminiscence loss in veterans and athletes. And TBI has additionally been linked to PTSD in current or former service members.
But survivors of home violence could also be struggling largely in silence.
About 70 p.c of individuals seen within the emergency room for such abuse are never identified as survivors of home violence. It’s a well being disaster cloaked in secrecy and disgrace, one which Zieman is uncovering by her work on the Barrow Concussion and Brain Injury Center.
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She runs what she mentioned is the primary program devoted to treating traumatic mind damage for survivors of home violence.
“About 81 percent of our sufferers had so many hits to the top, they misplaced depend, which, you examine that to athletes, is astronomical,” Zieman mentioned.
Zieman mentioned it’s not simply the sheer variety of accidents that makes these sufferers’ circumstances so advanced.
“One single athletic concussion is hard enough to treat, but these patients are beyond that,” she mentioned. “Unlike athletes, they do not have the luxury, if you will, of recovering after an injury before they are injured again.”
Domestic violence is estimated to have an effect on greater than 10 million people every year. Head and neck accidents are a few of the most typical points, and Zieman is uncovering how often traumatic mind damage is a part of the image.
Still, she mentioned, the shortage of recognition of the severity of the abuse-related issues has left many survivors with no definitive analysis. Many get blamed for his or her cognitive impairment.
“They have been labeled for so long with all these horrible things,” mentioned Zieman. “And in the end, it’s not only not their fault but there is a true medical reason behind these issues and there are some things that can be done.”
Social employee Ashley Bridwell (left) and Dr. Glynnis Zieman run what they are saying is the nation’s first program devoted to treating traumatic mind damage amongst survivors of home violence.(Will Stone/KJZZ)
Data on home violence and traumatic mind damage are sparse as a result of circumstances are so underreported, however Zieman mentioned her workforce’s preliminary findings point out the difficulty is extra prevalent than beforehand thought.
A 2016 evaluate of the medical recordsdata of sufferers in this system — nearly all girls — found solely one-fifth of them had seen a doctor for his or her accidents. Eighty-eight p.c had sustained multiple head damage from abuse.
Zieman works with native home violence shelters to determine girls who could also be affected by mind accidents. Workers will ship them to Zieman’s clinic the place their bodily signs, reminiscent of complications or dizziness, might be handled together with the cognitive and emotional results of their abuse. Through grants and personal donations, Zieman mentioned, the care is free, whether or not or not folks have insurance coverage.
Ashley Bridwell, a social employee at Barrow, works with Zieman to assist survivors handle life with a mind damage. “Some of these simple things like filling out an application or remembering an appointment, or being able to give a solid social or medical history — it’s close to impossible considering what they are experiencing,” she mentioned.
Bridwell helped begin this system six years in the past after doing outreach to the homeless neighborhood and realizing many consumers had traumatic mind accidents from home violence. She mentioned sufferers typically have lengthy histories of emotional and bodily abuse. Many have cognitive impairment from repeated delicate traumatic mind damage.
Patients will generally arrive on the clinic with a constellation of seemingly unexplainable signs. Bridwell mentioned she remembers one who misplaced her job due to her forgetfulness. The lady thought she had Alzheimer’s.
“And for her to come in and get some information about head injury, and about how multiple hits to the head can impact your memory, your attention, your concentration, your speed of processing, it was incredibly validating for her,” mentioned Bridwell.
The analysis gave her a brand new strategy to speak about and perceive her non-public battle. “They realize it’s not their fault,” Bridwell mentioned.
And Zieman mentioned PTSD and trauma have an effect on this inhabitants deeply.
“The significance of the mood symptoms in this population far exceeds what we see in our other patients,” she mentioned.
Zieman mentioned medical science continues to be within the early levels of understanding the consequences of repetitive mind damage and the best way to higher deal with it. The trauma of home violence solely complicates the image, however the survivors she sees stay her favourite sufferers to deal with.
“I feel that we can make the biggest difference for these patients,” she mentioned.
This story is a part of a partnership that features KJZZ, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
This story is a part of a partnership that features KJZZ, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
This story might be republished free of charge (details).
KHN’s protection of ladies’s well being care points is supported partly by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Will Stone, KJZZ: @WStonereports
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