Effects of Men’s detention on women

A study was done in Palestinian women too check the impact of men’s detention on their spouse. For this study 360 women who had been imprisoned by their spouse were selected completed their self -report and questionnaires on UCLAPTSD (posttraumatic stress disorders symptoms) and general health problems. Results reported that detention had a large impact on women’s health such as, general health problems, somatic complains, social dysfunction, anxiety and depression regardless of how much time husband spent in detention.

The detention of a husband, partner or spouse has a significant psychological impact on the wellbeing of partners, with possible large emotional difficulties as a consequence, such as loneliness, feelings of isolation, and symptoms of depression, posttraumatic stress (PTSD) and anxiety, to medical and health problems, and even the development of unhealthy behaviors and antisocial activities. Imprisonment of a partner may also lead to relational problems and possibly divorce, to social dysfunction and to problems in interactions with significant others. Besides, wives of an imprisoned husband are regularly facing huge challenges regarding their parental role.Further, stigmatization and shame about their husbands action are also commonly found.

However, this extended body of research has mainly focused on the consequences of husbands being arrested in western nations and being detained because of criminal conduct. Little is yet known about the psychological impact of detention of husbands/spouses in contexts of ongoing political and armed conflict. One of these contexts of protracted armed conflict are the Palestinian Occupied Territories (POT), where since 1967, there are ongoing political conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian people. Read more...........