Domestic Violence and Mental Health During COVID-19 in Bangladesh

The Lock down, work from home and other unprecedent events have created multilayer and multidimensional impact on our personal, social and occupational life. The mental health condition is deteriorating, the financial crisis is mounting up and staying at home is creating potential threat for domestic violence. In Bangladesh where domestic violence is already prevalent, the lockdown period and stay at home orders can cause more opportunities and scope for perpetrators. In this study, we aimed to find out the prevalence of domestic violence during this COVID-19 period and its relation with mental health.

We conducted an online survey among the Bangladeshi population to understand the pattern of domestic violence and its relation on mental health during August to September 2020. The questionnaire was disseminated through three websites and social media. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS 22.0). We found 36.8% respondents faced domestic violence at any time of their lives and 24.2% of the participants experienced domestic violence during this period of lockdown. More than 96% and 93% of the participants respectively considered the victims and the perpetrator need mental health care. However, only 25% of them has the idea of how and where they could avail the mental health service.

Domestic violence is one of the old hidden psychosocial and health problems and the crisis has increased during this COVID-19 crisis. The cry for mental health support is obvious and it is necessary to provide them the service to them in a convenient and cost-effective manner. Telepsychiatry can be good option for ensuring immediate mental health support.