--- title: Domestic Violence Can Cause Brain Damage description: Victims of domestic violence are demonstrating symptoms of CTE, the disease made infamous by boxing and football. canonical: https://time.com/4464260/domestic-violence-brain-injury/ author: Kastalia Medrano article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-24T14:33:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:13.303Z og:title: Domestic Violence May Cause Brain Damage Similar to Football og:description: Some survivors have reported symptoms of CTE og:url: https://time.com/4464260/domestic-violence-brain-injury/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4eb9e8e4e1c0d452/6988604c8e06017e23461fdb/brain-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1000&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1000 og:image:height: 563 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock health brain og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Domestic Violence May Cause Brain Damage Similar to Football twitter:description: Some survivors have reported symptoms of CTE twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4eb9e8e4e1c0d452/6988604c8e06017e23461fdb/brain-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1000&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Domestic Violence Victims May Suffer Brain Injuries Similar to Those of Football Players > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ff9df9fd-974e-4699-8826-854e568ee451&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Kastalia Medrano](https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/) ## Kastalia Medrano Aug 24, 2016 2:33 PM UTC  Illustration by Sydney Rae Hass for TIME by [Kastalia Medrano](https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/) ## Kastalia Medrano Aug 24, 2016 2:33 PM UTC The public dialogue on [chronic traumatic encephalopathy](http://time.com/4158140/concussion-film-bennet-omalu-cte-nfl/)—a brain disease commonly known as CTE—revolves almost exclusively around a small number of high-profile sports and athletes. The degenerative brain disorder arises from enduring heavy, repeated blows to the head, which is why you generally read about it when a [famous boxer has died](http://time.com/4358063/muhammad-ali-dead-parkinsons-boxing/) or the [NHL](https://www.inverse.com/article/18833-nhl-commissioner-gary-bettman-denies-concussions-linked-to-cte) or [NFL is trying to bury the fact](http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/%5F/id/15698225/co-chairman-nfl-committee-brain-injuries-denies-trying-influence-cte-study) that it’s a problem at all. Now, evidence is appearing that [domestic violence victims are developing the same disease](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cf549143990847a98fefd20f84127e13/fists-not-football-brain-injuries-seen-domestic-assaults?utm%5Fcampaign=SocialFlow&utm%5Fsource=Twitter&utm%5Fmedium=AP). [CTE can only be diagnosed](http://time.com/4205960/nfl-ken-stabler-brain-disease-cte/) for certain by examining the brain during autopsy, but the symptoms of head trauma over a long period of time—memory loss, dementia, mood swings, other changes in personality—are cropping up in those who have survived physically abusive relationships. The Associated Press profiled Susan Contreras, 47, who is now exhibiting CTE-like symptoms as the apparent result of domestic violence. The AP also spoke to medical professionals who attested to the fact that women whose partners frequently hit them in the head (an area less likely to bruise) were often not examined for brain damage, even in cases where they’d sought treatment, physical or psychological, for the abuse; CTE, therefore, would make sense. “If a woman comes in with a black eye … we need to provide some good neurological workups like the help that is being provided to our veterans with traumatic brain injury,” researcher Jacquelyn Campbell, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, told the AP. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4464260/domestic-violence-brain-injury/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4464260/domestic-violence-brain-injury/"},"headline":"Domestic Violence Victims May Suffer Brain Injuries Similar to Those of Football Players","datePublished":"2016-08-24T14:33:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:13.303Z","description":"Some survivors have reported symptoms of CTE","url":"https://time.com/4464260/domestic-violence-brain-injury/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4eb9e8e4e1c0d452/6988604c8e06017e23461fdb/brain-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kastalia Medrano","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kastalia-medrano/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4eb9e8e4e1c0d452/6988604c8e06017e23461fdb/brain-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock health brain","caption":"TIME.com stock health brain","creditText":"Illustration by Sydney Rae Hass for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4464260/domestic-violence-brain-injury/","name":"Domestic Violence Victims May Suffer Brain Injuries Similar to Those of Football Players"}}]}] ```