THE death toll from family violence could be far greater than previously thought when deaths by suicide are included in the count, a Victorian study has found.
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Research from the St Vincent's Hospital Clinical School at the University of Melbourne revealed that almost half of all women and a third of all men who died by suicide between 2009 and 2012 in Victoria had been exposed to violence.
More than 60 per cent of those men had been the perpetrator of family violence.
The study showed one in four women who died by suicide had been the victim of physical violence, one in five had suffered psychological violence, and one in six had been sexually assaulted. In 70 per cent of cases this abuse occurred within an intimate or family relationship.
Bendigo Community Health Services chief executive officer Kim Sykes said the research reflected the heavy cost of family violence.
“Family violence has terrible consequences on every member of family in which it occurs,” she said.
“It’s easier to see identify the physical consequences of family violence because they’re highly visible and immediately felt but there are a range of other impacts that can last a lifetime.
“This report highlights that the impacts can not only last a lifetime but also shorten a lifetime.”
Ms Sykes said victims of suicide often had histories of significant trauma.
“There’s no way of knowing just how an individual will respond to trauma, particularly one as dramatic as family violence can be,” she said.
Ms Sykes said to address the problem, focus needed to be shifted beyond service delivery.
“While every victim of violence needs to be able to access help from well skilled, empathic people, in addition each one of us needs to accept that we have an opportunity to shift the culture and attitudes we may hold perhaps unwittingly about violence and family violence in Australia,” she said.
“It’s really important that each and every one of use grasps the opportunity to drive family violence from Australian homes.”
In its submission to the Royal Commission into Family Violence, the Coroner's Court says about 35 per cent of women - around 50 people – who died by suicide annually in the same period had a reported history of family violence.
For men, there was a history of family violence in about 110 suicide deaths annually.
"A significant number of deaths from suicide amongst Victorian men have a history of perpetrating family violence. However, the relationship and mediating factors between these two events is not well understood," the court's submission says.
There was a chance to prevent suicides associated with family violence that would represent 150 Victorian lives saved annually, it says.
- with The Age
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