Is sleep deprivation used as a means of coercive control? An examination of the lived experience of sleep deprivation within intimate relationships.

There is a substantial and growing body of evidence demonstrating the negative consequences of living with coercive control, though very little research has directly examined the use of sleep deprivation as a technique of control. This is surprising given the known, adverse consequences of inadequate, and poor-quality sleep and its recognition as a means of torture. This qualitative study explored the experience of five women survivors, using semi structured interviews to establish how sleep deprivation was being used as a means of coercive control and the subsequent impacts on their health and wellbeing. The findings indicated sleep deprivation was a powerful method of coercion and control which had significant short-term impacts on all the participants’ physical and mental health. Some survivors experienced chronic adverse health effects, attributable to poor sleep, years after the abuse ended. Findings also suggested the use of sleep deprivation could be an indicator of higher risk for suicide/ involuntary manslaughter and domestic homicide, as there were notable similarities in the progress of relationships in the study and those observed within the Domestic Homicide Timeline as described by Monkton Smith (2020).