“My Heart is Broken”: The Embodied Experience of IPV of Palestinian Women Living in Israel

Although Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) has profound psychological and physical effects, the embodied experiences of women who experience IPV remain underexplored. This study investigates the psychological and physical impact of IPV on 15 Palestinian Arab women living in Israel using body maps and narrative analysis to capture their embodied experiences. The participants were asked to create body maps, visually representing their physical and emotional responses to IPV. This was followed by narrative interviews to further explore their experiences. The body maps were coded for content using sign- and aggregate-based approaches to understand the women’s experiences. The narratives were coded using an iterative, thematic analysis method. The data analysis revealed three distinct categories of body maps: pervasive injury (multiple signs), minimalistic body maps (primarily the heart/chest area), and focused body maps with specific zones of pain. The thematic analysis of the narratives identified two primary themes: the “embodied experience of violence” (the physical effects of IPV) and the “spectrum of pain,” which encompassed three subthemes: fear, anxiety, and heightened stress; profound loneliness and loss of trust; and suffocation and helplessness. Most participants marked their upper body, especially the heart, to indicate feelings of hurt and disappointment. Limbs were often marked to show paralysis and helplessness, while the shoulder area represented the burden of responsibilities, profound loneliness, a loss of trust in relationships, and sensations of suffocation and helplessness. These findings suggest that body maps can effectively illustrate the embodied experiences of IPV and reveal body-mind connections.