Impact of Abuse and its Duration on the Mental Health of Abused Women

Abuse against women in India appears to be depleating on the surface but what happens behind the closed doors in an Indian marriage setup, the victims mental status describes. The present study was conducted to gain insight into the mental health of abused women belonging to Chandigarh. The study was conducted on 100 abused women facing abuse by their husband. Percentages were used to depict the number of sample population undergoing depression to what degree and the duration of abuse in abused women with children and abused women without children. The objectives of the research were to study the duration of abuse faced by women and the degree to which abused women suffer from depression. The tool involved in the study was Beck's Depression Inventory. The results revealed that majority of the sample were going through abuse from past 1–5 years and majority of the sample suffered from either moderate or severe depression.