Hidden Trauma: Addressing Incest and Suicide as Tools of Coercive Control (Session 4)

Hidden Trauma: Addressing Incest and Suicide as Tools of Coercive Control (Session 4)

This session addresses two particularly devastating yet often overlooked manifestations of coercive control: post-separation coercive control and the health impacts of invisible abuse. Silke Meyer presents research on victim-survivors’ current experiences and perceptions of risk during post-separation coercive control, illuminating how abuse often escalates after leaving and how survivors navigate ongoing danger while trying to rebuild their lives. Her work challenges myths about post-separation safety and highlights the need for extended protective measures. Fatima Le Griguer discusses the French validation of the Coercive Control Scale and its demonstrated impact on general health outcomes, revealing how the invisible patterns of coercive control create measurable harm to victims’ physical and mental wellbeing. Her presentation demonstrates the importance of validated assessment tools in making visible the health consequences of coercive control that traditional measures often miss. Ellie Hutchinson’s work explores how research methodologies must center survivor voices to truly capture the lived experience of coercive control. Together, these presentations expand our understanding of coercive control’s far-reaching impacts on health, safety, and wellbeing.