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An Online Resource Library on Gender-Based Violence.

A Hidden Cause of Chronic Illness

General Material
Published Date
November, 2013
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Author(s)

This piece, originally published in More magazine, received an honorable mention for the 2014 Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma. It explores how previous domestic violence and sexual trauma can continue to impact survivors many years later in the form of chronic health problems. These problems include not just those related directly to injuries suffered as part of the abuse, but other conditions such as asthma and hypertension that “can be triggered by stress-related inflammation and a fight-or-flight response that’s in overdrive” (p. 91).