Dr Helen Bichard

#nonfatalstrangulation laws work: significant causal drop in #intimatepartnerhomicide in US. NFS is edge of homicide, increases odds of being murdered 7-fold; this law stops perps in their tracks. @scottishgov.bsky.social, still debating, take note! @institutefas.bsky.social tinyurl.com/37dazh2h

3 YEARS after law changed, Government finally tells schools they must outline medical and legal risk of #strangulation & sexual #choking in curriculum. England only - rest of UK needs to follow, yesterday. @institutefas.bsky.social assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687a3d...

Woman's Hour - Three-person DNA babies, Emer Kenny, Dangers of sexual strangulation - BBC Sounds Eight babies have been born in the UK using genetic material from three people.

Discussion on sexual #choking (30mins in) citing our research on brain impact. Follows news that FINALLY Government issues SexEd guidance for schools covering risks of #strangulation. England only - rest of UK needs to follow ASAP. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Interesting pre-print using data from @womensaid.bsky.social on health outcomes from #domesticviolence. Threats to kill increase risk of #strangulation FOUR TIMES - clear escalation. NB it's not 'attempted' strangulation, it IS! @institutefas.bsky.social www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

Analysis of case files of children reporting non-fatal strangulation as part of a sexual assault There is increasing awareness of non-fatal strangulation (NFS) in interpersonal violence in adults but less in the literature regarding children and y…

Worrying new paper from Prof Cath White: in 6 year period, doubling of #strangulation in sexual assault on children. All perps male. Association with victim's mental health - effect, or vulnerability? @institutefas.bsky.social @claremcglynn.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

UK Government to outlaw #strangulation aka #choking in porn. Brilliant news, proud of team for pushing on this. Porn has helped normalise this utterly abnormal act, such that girls as young as 12 risk #braininjury including #stroke, and #PTSD from their first sexual encounters.

Domestic abuse is ‘public health emergency’, experts say after critical NHS report Exclusive: Analysis finds domestic abuse training for staff in England and Wales ‘sporadic and inconsistent’

It’s time the government took action on repeated recommendations in domestic homicide reviews and ensured all health professionals receive comprehensive training, including on the risk posed by domestic abuse-related suicides.

Domestic abuse is ‘public health emergency’, experts say after critical NHS report Exclusive: Analysis finds domestic abuse training for staff in England and Wales ‘sporadic and inconsistent’

Healthcare workers are often the first, and only, point of contact for victims of abuse. It is essential they are equipped to identify, signpost and safeguard victims who need support.

As this report shows, the consequences of inaction can be serious harm, including death.

Timothy Spall looks well.

'Often people say they experience a “euphoric” feeling during strangulation, but that feeling is your brain cells being damaged – and you can’t regenerate new ones. If strangulation happens frequently, you’re putting yourself at risk of nerve damage, stroke and even death.’

tinyurl.com/4edfamdf

Intimate partner violence, traumatic brain injury and long-term mental health outcomes in midlife: the Drake IPV study Background Approximately 30% of women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime, often with traumatic brain injury (TBI) exposure. Nevertheless, there has been limited research expl...

Study highlighting risk of #braininjury in #domesticviolence & long term health impacts. We know this; challenge now is to address. That's why we're piloting #neuropsychology in-reach with DV services in North Wales. Watch this space! @institutefas.bsky.social mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/28/1...

“It is clear that within books/ films strangulation is conveyed as something women desire, that it can be done safely & seriousness is connected to visible bruising, something research contradicts.”

Our research analysing strangulation in UK media. ifas.org.uk/strangulatio...

Police Data on Strangulation and Suffocation Offences - Institute for Addressing Strangulation We requested data from the Home Office in 2023 pertaining to the number of strangulation and suffocation offences recorded by the police in the first year of strangulation and suffocation becoming a s...

- We can’t learn from what we don’t know, so data is key if we are to support the government’s aims to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.

Full findings: ifas.org.uk/police-data-...

8/8

My latest briefing on how the prevalence of sexual strangulation/choking risks serious harm to young women who are the unwitting guinea pigs of a large-scale experiment with their well-being.
We need far better education and regulation.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Great paper. Plus 1) hypoxia affects frontal lobes ie cannot gesture/vocalise STOP as you say, but also hinders judgement/decision-making 2) I'm frequently seeing women where NFS has been used in DV as an escalation from sexual choking ("but we've done this before! you like it!") Horrible blurring.

Partner-Inflicted Brain Injury: Intentional, Concurrent, and Repeated Traumatic and Hypoxic Neurologic Insults - PubMed (1) Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused from rapid head acceleration/deceleration, focal blows, blasts, penetrating forces, and/or shearing forces, whereas hypoxic-anoxic injury (HAI) i...

New US paper, proposing new term "partner-inflicted brain injury" in #domesticviolence, to reflect finding that majority of DV survivors had a) likely brain injury & b) this was from repetitive & concurrent TBI (blows to head) + hypoxia from #strangulation. @institutefas.bsky.social

We are publishing research on strangulation in UK media through analysing online article titles.

We will be launching findings through 5 short weekly reports. Sign up to our newsletter to get an alert: shorturl.at/Vjayj

Access Part 1 the Introduction & Methodology: ifas.org.uk/strangulatio...

Diddy’s lawyers are banking on the ‘mutual abuse’ defence. Newsflash: it’s not a thing | Tayo Bero Power isn’t equal in an unhealthy relationship. But it’s no surprise Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s team is deploying the tactic

"We tell women to report crimes and then either don’t believe them, or say they were violent too when they do. And when they don’t report, we question why they stayed in a relationship and tell them that they wanted the abuse."
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Improving CT imaging in Non-Fatal strangulation Domestic Violence Victims (P6-14.002) | Neurology Objective: In collaboration with Brooklyn District Attorney office, we examined and designed a quality improvement study to look at the performance of CT imaging in non-fatal strangulation DV in the e...

Striking new US study, showing men presenting at hospital following #strangulation are 4.5 times more likely than women to have a CT scan. @institutefas.bsky.social #domesticviolence #sexualviolence #VAWG www.neurology.org/doi/abs/10.1...

If it's Brebis, which is simply French for sheep cheese, we're heading for another chevre/goat cheese FIASCO. But I is loving this. So, frankly my dear, I don't give Edam.

Totally agree. My focus is strangulation, @institutefas.bsky.social is Home Office funded, yet this is a public health emergency, not just within domestic & sexual violence, but the fact the majority of under 24s now agree they have been 'choked' during sex: risking a generation's brain health.

Ban pornography depicting strangulation, review urges UK ministers Independent review also calls for ban on other ‘legal but harmful’ material that is degrading, violent or misogynistic

We welcome Baroness Bertin's report & the attention given to non-fatal strangulation (NFS) & porn. We welcome recommendations that NFS porn should be illegal to possess, distribute, publish.
We eagerly await Govt response & timeline of action.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Within seconds, dyspraxia can set in, due to lack of oxygenated blood to the brain, making safe words redundant. Consent should also be informed, but there's little public awareness of the risks. Encouraged to see porn's role formally recognised in the review. Ministers now need to act! #vawg