Intimate partner violence among women with somatoform disorders: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Somatoform disorders and medically unexplained symptoms are reported to be common in women and associated with significant disability. Studies have shown that women experiencing Intimate Partner Violence are more likely to report somatic symptoms. This systematic review aims to evaluate the prevalence and clinical correlates of IPV in women presenting with MUS and somatoform disorders. Method: We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus and Gray literature via Google scholar. We included studies which gave data on prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence in women with somatoform disorders and medically unexplained symptoms from 2000 to 2020. The Inclusion criteria for this review were women between 18-59 years of age with a diagnosis of somatoform disorders or medically unexplained symptoms and outcome measure taken as prevalence of IPV. Results: A total of 157 articles were screened of which 2 articles were taken for data extraction. The two studies included for data extraction were not suitable for prevalence estimates. There appeared to be no uniformity in identifying medically unexplained symptoms and Intimate Partner Violence. Conclusion: This systematic review shows an appalling gap in research in women with medically unexplained symptoms. It also brings out the need to have an uniform assessment and evaluation of medically unexplained symptoms and Intimate Partner Violence.

Keywords

• abuse
• intimate partner violence
• medically unexplained symptoms
• somatic
• somatoform
• women