The hidden brain disease impacting DV victim-survivors

Domestic and family violence victim-survivors at risk of CTE, experts warn Mon 6 Jul 2026 at 5:44am In short: Domestic and family violence victim-survivor advocates are warning of the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) from repeated blows to the head. The Survivor Service says because the brain disease is commonly associated with high-impact sport, many victim-survivors who have suffered physical abuse are not aware of the threat. What's next? CTE support organisation ConneCTErs has opened its first office in Townsville to coordinate nationwide support, including for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence. In 2024, analysis of the brains of two dead women found they had been so brutally assaulted that they were posthumously diagnosed with a brain disease usually associated with high-impact athletes. However, the perpetrator was not a player on an opposing team; it was their own partner. "It really enforces [that] the impacts of domestic and family violence don't end when domestic violence ends," Samantha Schulte, chief executive and founder of The Survivor Service, said. Aged in their 30s and 40s, the women were Australia's first reported cases of intimate partner violence-related chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). They had endured decades of brutal assaults and head injuries before their deaths. Ms Schulte warned traumatic brain injury could occur as a result of ongoing blows to the head and could impact a victim-survivor long after a relationship ended. "So many victim-survivors are continuing to live with the long-term physical and neurological impacts in their healing and recovery journey,"she said. Because the disease is more commonly associated with high-impact sport, many victim-survivors who have suffered physical abuse are not aware of the threat of developing CTE. "While there is a greater understanding of long-term impacts of domestic violence, we need to increase awareness across the broader community and also the community-service sector," Ms Schulte said. Building awareness and understanding ConneCTErs Australia, an organisation supporting individuals, families and carers living with suspected or probable CTE, wants the idea the condition only impacts athletes to be challenged. Chief executive Sarah Ms Willey is concerned victim-survivors of domestic and family violence are being overlooked. "What we need to do is really move away from anyone just solely thinking that this is something that professional athletes can develop, because that's incorrect,"she said. "There are people who are also really vulnerable, your victims of chronic physical domestic violence, and that can be from when people were children, through to their adolescence, through to being older," she said. In May, ConneCTErs Australia opened its first office in Townsville in partnership with Dementia Australia as a base to coordinate nationwide support. The federal government granted Dementia Australia $12.5 million in funding to help tackle CTE. Ms Willey described North Queensland as a demographic that had more "causation areas of risk" due to higher rates of violence. "We know from the stats the Northern Territory and North Queensland, the northern areas, do have … higher rates of violence," she said. Neurologist Craig Costello said CTE was a neurodegenerative condition that could lead to dementia. "The term neurodegeneration means brain cell loss," Dr Costello said. "It is a progressive condition that we can't cure, and it does progress and get worse over time." However, Dr Costello said the "difficulty" was that a person could not be definitively diagnosed with CTE while they were living. The diagnosis can only be confirmed after death during a post-mortem examination. So, if patients meet the criteria of the disease, they are diagnosed with likely or probable CTE. Dr Costello explained there were two main ways people presented with CTE. "One is significantly changing their behaviour. There's impulsivity, there's explosiveness, there's almost out-of-control … [behaviour], they're quick to snap," he said. "And then there's the more cognitive presentation, which is the memory loss, the dysfunctioning, your attention, your concentration, your ability to process things." Not just professional athletes impacted Ms Schulte said there needed to be a greater focus on domestic and family violence-related CTE. "We know victim-survivors continue to face barriers to disclosing domestic and family violence or accessing support, which means we don't have a true understanding of the prevalence of brain injury," she said. She said awareness could not solely sit with domestic and family violence and health sectors. "We need a broader community response, which is really essential to victim-survivors so that they can be made aware and access an informed, compassionate response, wherever they're seeking help," she said.