Intimate Partner Violence: a pilot study on olfactory perception, nociception and depression

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is defined as any kind of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occurs within the family or a domestic unit, including spouses, former spouses or partners. Recent studies have shown that in IPV there may be sensory, emotional and cognitive habituation or sensitization responses, elicited by chronic stress. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the IPV and the olfactory, nociceptive, emotional and cognitive responses. A pilot observational study was conducted on a group of 6 IPV women (mean age 44.8 ± 6), recruited through the ‘Centro Antiviolenza dell’Ambito Territoriale di Lecce – Renata Fonte’, and a group of 6 control women (44.7 ± 7), in order to analyze the behavioral differences in the functioning of the olfactory, emotional and nociceptive system. The following tests were administered: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI); the Scale for perceived stress; Pain Related Scale (PRS), a Visual analogic scale on perceived pain (VAS); the Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ); the Sniffing Stick Test (lateralized version). Data analysis indicates that the IPV group has a reduced olfactory response, higher scores on the BDI; the nociceptive response, measured both through the VAS and the PRS, is significantly greater in the group with IPV. Confirming our previous study, women with IPV do not differ from control respect to the perceived level of stress. Instead, the beliefs, thoughts and cognitive patterns related to how the woman represents pain are significantly greater in the group with IPV, particularly with respect to the variables of “catastrophic” and “lack of help”. These data indicate that depression, perceptive olfactory response and nociception are strongly interrelated even in the disorder with IPV. This pilot study will allow us to subsequently evaluate the psychophysiological correlation between nociception and olfactory response (as indices of common subcortical pathways particularly linked to emotional aspects) in situations of chronic violence.