This article discusses research findings which identify that women who are abused by their intimate male partners also experience mental health symptoms and illness, some to the extent of serious mental distress. The author explores the difficulty that these women have with accessing services, such as women's refuge, because they tend to exclude women with mental health or drug and alcohol issues. This paper derives from research carried out towards a Masters in Public Health. Thirty women were interviewed from a phenomenological perspective and the resulting data was analysed from a feminist perspective. This article examines negative mental health effects of domestic violence, which include suicide, alcohol abuse, mental illness diagnoses, and learned helplessness. Six themes emerged from the research: abuse makes women think they are crazy; the impact of being labelled with a mental illness; services can reinforce and mimic the abuse women experience; women's own stories are not always believed or are reinterpreted; abuse needs to be renamed by each woman to help them talk about their experiences; social expectations of marriage and relationships complicate domestic violence. From the results and themes of the research, the author has produced a list of what women want, some general recommendations, and recommendations to mental health services to improve how they work with women who have been abused. The author of this article concludes that abused women are very limited by where they can go for help. It is suggested that specialist refuge services are needed that provide safety and assistance with these women's symptoms.

Incite : The Mental Health Journal of New Zealand 2(2) 2003 : 24-34