Every May, Mental Health Awareness Month encourages conversations around anxiety, depression, stress, and emotional wellbeing. Yet one of the most devastating causes of long-term psychological trauma often remains under-discussed: domestic
abuse.
When people think of domestic violence, they usually imagine physical injuries — bruises, fractures, visible signs of assault. But for many survivors, the deepest wounds are the ones that cannot be photographed.
Fear becomes routine. Hypervigilance becomes survival. Silence becomes a coping mechanism.
Over time, victims of prolonged emotional, psychological, or physical abuse may begin experiencing anxiety disorders, panic attacks, depression, insomnia, dissociation, emotional numbness, and symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress. Many lose the ability to feel safe even in ordinary environments. Some begin doubting their own perception of reality after years of manipulation, intimidation,
humiliation, or coercive control.
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), nearly one in three every married women in India has experienced spousal violence. Mental health experts have repeatedly warned that prolonged exposure to abuse can leave lasting psychological consequences long after visible injuries heal.
And yet, these invisible injuries are rarely recognised with the seriousness they deserve.
Abuse does not always begin with violence. It often begins with control — over movement, finances, communication, self-worth, clothing, friendships, sleep, or emotional stability. By the time physical violence appears, psychological conditioning may already be deeply entrenched.
India has made progress in acknowledging mental health as an essential part of healthcare. The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 marked an important shift in recognising mental healthcare as a right. Insurance providers were later directed to include mental illnesses within health coverage.
On paper, this is progress.
But reality is often far more complicated.
For survivors of domestic violence, seeking mental healthcare is not always financially, socially, or emotionally accessible. Many are financially dependent on the very individuals harming them. Others fear social stigma, family backlash, loss of shelter, or retaliation. In smaller towns and conservative environments, therapy is still viewed with suspicion.
Even where mental health insurance exists, awareness and accessibility remain limited in practice. Trauma-informed mental healthcare is still beyond reach for many survivors, especially those living in environments where abuse itself has been normalised.
This creates a dangerous cycle.
Untreated trauma does not simply disappear. It accumulates quietly. It affects physical health, sleep, concentration, work performance, relationships, parenting, and long-term emotional stability. Children growing up in abusive homes may themselves develop anxiety, behavioural difficulties, emotional dysregulation, or distorted understandings of love and conflict. The effects often extend far beyond one household.
Domestic violence, therefore, is not only a legal issue or a private family matter. It is also a public health issue. Perhaps one of the most harmful societal responses to abuse is the persistent question: “Why didn’t they leave?”
Trauma experts across the world have repeatedly explained that abusive relationships are rarely built only on fear. They are often built through emotional conditioning, cycles of affection and harm, dependency, guilt, isolation, and psychological manipulation over time. Leaving is not always a single decision. For many survivors, it is a long psychological process.
Conversations around emotional abuse, trauma bonding, coercive control, and psychological recovery are slowly beginning to emerge through awareness initiatives and survivor-led discourse, but public understanding remains limited.
This is why mental health support cannot remain separate from conversations around domestic violence. Survivors do not only need legal protection. They need trauma-informed care. They need safe access to counselling. They need workplaces that understand the impact of abuse on mental wellbeing. They need systems that recognise invisible injuries before they become life-threatening crises.
Awareness campaigns during Mental Health Awareness Month should therefore move beyond generic discussions of stress and positivity. They must also create space for difficult conversations about trauma, violence, emotional abuse, and recovery.
Until domestic violence is recognised as both a safety issue and a mental health crisis, many survivors will continue to suffer in silence long after the violence itself has ended.
Drishtirupa Das 
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