Shelter staff tell Mental Health Committee domestic and sexual violence drive lasting trauma and health harms

Carly Calera, agency therapist at Harmony House, told the Missouri Mental Health Committee that intimate partner violence and sexual violence cause both immediate injuries and long-term physical and mental-health problems for survivors.

Calera said the abuse she and her colleagues see ranges from “scratches, biting, grabbing” and strangulation to psychological tactics such as gaslighting and economic control that block a survivor’s ability to work or access money. She described reproductive coercion — including “hiding, withholding, or destroying a partner’s oral contraceptives” and removing condoms without consent — as another common tactic used to maintain power in relationships.

The presenters told the committee the health impacts are wide-ranging: from bruises and internal injuries to chronic conditions such as arthritis, digestive disorders and migraine, and elevated rates of post-traumatic…