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Coercive control is a complex and poorly understood dimension of intimate partner violence that is associated with trauma and mental health consequences. It is essential to understand the nuanced and varied experiences of coercive control and potential processes of traumatization. In this qualitative phenomenological study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 women who had experienced coercive control and accessed domestic violence services in Australia. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, which addressed two research questions: (1) How do women describe their experiences of coercive control and (2) How do women describe the impact of coercive control exposure on their mental health? Findings identified entrapment and insidiousness (characterized by subtlety, intangibleness, and gradual worsening), as underlying dimensions of coercive control that were central to the trauma and mental health reactions of participants. These women also described a range of trauma and mental health reactions (e.g., anxiety, hypervigilance, affective dysregulation, negative self-concept, and disturbances with trust and relationships). The findings have important implications for research and practice, highlighting the pressing need for the provision of trauma-informed and integrated psychosocial care by frontline services, health care providers, and mental health professionals who support women who have been exposed to coercive control. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/03616843241269941 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coercive control is an under researched type of intimate partner violence (IPV). The aims of this review were to (a) synthesize all available evidence regarding associations with coercive control and mental health outcomes including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD, and depression; and (b) compare these with associations involving broader categories of psychological IPV. Primary studies which measured associations of coercive control with PTSD, complex PTSD, depression, or other mental health symptoms, were identified via a systematic search of electronic databases (PsycINFO, Medline, CINAHL, Scopus). Eligible studies involved observational designs and reported associations between coercive control and mental health outcomes, among participants who were at least 18 years old. Studies were published in peer-reviewed journals and English language. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to synthesize correlational data from eligible studies. The search identified 68 studies while data from 45 studies could be included in the meta-analyses. These indicated moderate associations involving coercive control and PTSD (r =.32; 95% confidence interval [.28,.37]) and depression (r =.27; [.22,.31]). These associations were comparable to those involving psychological IPV and PTSD (r =.34; [.25,.42]) and depression (r =.33; [.26,.40]). Only one study reported on the relationship between coercive control and complex PTSD and meta-analyses could not be performed. This review indicated that coercive control exposure is moderately associated with both PTSD and depression. This highlights that mental health care is needed for those exposed to coercive control, including trauma-informed psychological interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article, the author extends the basic repeated prisoners' dilemma to allow for the linkage of punishment strategies across issues (issue linkage) as well as decentralized third-party enforcement (player linkage). The concepts of issue and player linkage are then synthesized to develop the notion of domestic-international linkage, which connects trigger strategy punishments across games played over different issues by different sets of players. In a two-level game, domestic and international cooperation may be reinforced by a punishment linkage; a defection in the domestic game may trigger a breakdown of international cooperation and vice versa. The author also examines the conditions under which the incentives to cooperate are stronger at the domestic level than at the international level and vice versa. With domestic-international linkage, the credibility surplus on one level spills over to offset the credibility deficit on the other level. Finally, the author provides conditions under which governments are better off delinking domestic and international issues.