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After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged聽聽over five years to address men鈥檚 violence towards women. This includes up to $5,000 to support those escaping violent relationships.

However, to reduce and prevent gender-based and intimate partner violence we also need to address the root causes and contributors. These include alcohol and other drugs, trauma and mental health issues.

The World Health Organization estimates聽聽globally have experienced intimate partner violence, gender-based violence or both. In Australia,听聽have experienced intimate partner violence by a co-habiting partner;聽聽of Australian children are exposed to domestic violence.

By gender-based violence we mean violence or intentionally harmful behaviour directed at someone due to their gender. But intimate partner violence specifically refers to violence and abuse occurring between current (or former) romantic partners. Domestic violence can extend beyond intimate partners, to include other family members.

These statistics highlight the urgent need to address not just the aftermath of such violence, but also its roots, including the experiences and behaviours of perpetrators.

The relationships between mental illness, drug use, traumatic experiences and violence are complex.

When we look specifically at the link between mental illness and violence, most people with mental illness will not become violent. But there聽聽people with serious mental illness can be more likely to become violent.

The use of alcohol and other drugs also聽聽of domestic violence, including intimate partner violence.

础产辞耻迟听聽intimate partner violence incidents involve alcohol. These are more likely to result in physical injury and hospitalisation. The risk of perpetrating violence is even higher for people with mental ill health who are also聽.

It鈥檚 also important to consider traumatic experiences. Most people who experience trauma do not commit violent acts, but there are聽聽of trauma among people who become violent.

For example, experiences of childhood trauma (such as witnessing physical abuse)聽聽of perpetrating domestic violence as an adult.

Early traumatic experiences can affect the brain and body鈥檚聽, leading to heightened fear and perception of threat, and difficulty regulating emotions. This can result in aggressive responses when faced with conflict or stress.

This response to stress increases the risk of聽, developing聽聽(post-traumatic stress disorder), and聽聽of perpetrating intimate partner violence.

We can reduce intimate partner violence by addressing these overlapping issues and tackling the root causes and contributors.

The early intervention and treatment of聽,听聽(including PTSD), and聽, could help reduce violence. So extra investment for these are needed. We also need more investment to聽, and preventing alcohol and drug use disorders from developing in the first place.

聽from occuring and supporting those exposed is crucial to end what can often become a vicious cycle of intergenerational trauma and violence.聽聽environments and relationships can protect children against mental health problems or further violence as they grow up and engage in their own intimate relationships.

We also need to acknowledge the widespread聽聽and its effects on mental health, drug use and violence. This needs to be integrated into policies and practices to reduce re-traumatising individuals.

Most existing standard intervention programs for perpetrators聽聽the links between trauma, mental health and perpetrating intimate partner violence. Such programs tend to have聽听辞谤听聽on the behaviour of perpetrators.

But we could improve these programs with a聽聽including treating mental illness, drug use and trauma at the same time.

Such 鈥溾�� programs show promise in meaningfully reducing violent behaviour. However, we need more rigorous and large-scale evaluations of how well they work.

Supporting victim-survivors and improving interventions for perpetrators are both needed. However, intervening once violence has occurred is arguably too late.

We need to direct our efforts towards broader, holistic approaches to prevent and reduce intimate partner violence, including addressing the underlying contributors to violence we鈥檝e outlined.

We also need to look more widely at preventing intimate partner violence and gendered violence.

We need developmentally appropriate聽聽for adolescents to prevent the emergence of unhealthy relationship patterns before they become established.

We also need to address the聽聽that contribute to violence. This includes improving access to affordable housing, employment opportunities and accessible health-care support and treatment options.

All these will be critical if we are to break the cycle of intimate partner violence and improve outcomes for victim-survivors.

The article was original published as published at The Conversation.聽

Hero image:聽Lukas Coch/AAP Image