Night terrors: women's experiences of (not) sleeping where there is domestic violence.
The management of sleep is embedded within the social context of individuals' lives. This article is based on an exploratory study using focus groups of the sleep problems encountered by 17 women survivors of domestic violence. It argues that fear becomes the organizing framework for the management of sleep and illustrates how this takes place both while living with the perpetrators of violence and after the women have been rehoused. It argues that sleep deprivation is a method used by the perpetrators to exert control over women and that this has long-term implications for women's physical and mental health.
Lowe
Pam
P
Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
Humphreys
Cathy
C
Williams
Simon J
SJ
D000328:Adult; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology*; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D020184:Night Terrors / Q000209:etiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D006113:United Kingdom; D016387:Women's Health