The Long-Term Impact of Coercive Control and Grooming from Abusive Relationships on Women’s Mental Health
Tracks
Ballroom 1
| Monday, August 31, 2026 |
| 1:00 PM - 1:20 PM |
| JW Grand Ballroom |
Overview
Lea Nunn, Real Success
Three Key Learnings
1. Increased understanding of the nature of abusive relationships and their impact on the victim-survivor
2. Recognition of the graduated grooming process that occurs in abusive relationships
3. Awareness of the enduring mental health consequences for women of the normalised exposure to abuse that exists in our societies
Speaker
Dr Lea Nunn
Psychologist / Director
Real Success
The Long-Term Impact of Coercive Control and Grooming from Abusive Relationships on Women’s Mental Health
Abstract
Abusive relationships characterised by coercive control and grooming have profound psychological and physiological impacts on women. This presentation interrogates the relationship between the high global prevalence of intimate partner and sexual abuse on women’s disproportionately higher rates of mental health disorders relative to men, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
Drawing on qualitative research into the earliest warning signs of intimate partner abuse (IPA), important parallels between the initial stages of abusive relationships and established models of adult sexual grooming will be identified. Comparable to the programming that occurs when people are recruited into a cult, this research developed a Grooming Framework that illustrates the psychological and physiological indoctrination experienced by female victim-survivors. This framework is graduated, where each stage builds on the previous one, as the person using abuse tests and refines their strategies over time.
Central to this framework is ‘the tremor’ - a gut reaction or feeling of unease described by participants which signalled abuse within their relationships. A physiological warning shaped through the conditioning of the vagal brake in the polyvagal nervous system, the tremor offers a novel perspective of the beginning of abusive relationships and the enduring consequences of coercive control and grooming for victim-survivors.
Reference
Nunn, L. M., Winter, R., Frey, R., & Asquith, N. L. (2023). The role of the socialisation of women in recognising and responding to the earliest warning signs of intimate partner abuse. Journal of Gender-Based Violence.
Drawing on qualitative research into the earliest warning signs of intimate partner abuse (IPA), important parallels between the initial stages of abusive relationships and established models of adult sexual grooming will be identified. Comparable to the programming that occurs when people are recruited into a cult, this research developed a Grooming Framework that illustrates the psychological and physiological indoctrination experienced by female victim-survivors. This framework is graduated, where each stage builds on the previous one, as the person using abuse tests and refines their strategies over time.
Central to this framework is ‘the tremor’ - a gut reaction or feeling of unease described by participants which signalled abuse within their relationships. A physiological warning shaped through the conditioning of the vagal brake in the polyvagal nervous system, the tremor offers a novel perspective of the beginning of abusive relationships and the enduring consequences of coercive control and grooming for victim-survivors.
Reference
Nunn, L. M., Winter, R., Frey, R., & Asquith, N. L. (2023). The role of the socialisation of women in recognising and responding to the earliest warning signs of intimate partner abuse. Journal of Gender-Based Violence.
Biography
Leanne has over thirty years experience as a psychologist in the clinical, management and training sectors and has her own lived experience of intimate partner abuse (IPA). She completed her PhD in 2024 with research focused on the progression and recognition of abuse in relationships. She has worked with hundreds of women that have experienced IPA or sexual abuse extensively throughout her career, both individually and in groups, across private practice, hospital and community settings.
