1. Chapter Ten

2. Background
 Culture has a role in the definition of partner violence
 Not limited to a husband and wife relationship
 Common terms:
 Battering-physical violence perpetrated by one person on
another
 Abuse-general term that describes the unequal power
relationship within which the assault occurs
 Assault-verbal and behavioral threats to others, pets, or
property
 Domestic violence-any act of assault by a social partner or
relative, regardless of marital status

3. Incidence of Partner Violence
 Bradley v. State of Mississippi, 1824
 State of North Carolina v. Oliver, 1874
 Domestic disturbance calls outnumber other types of
calls in which the possibility of violence exists to both
civilians and police

4. Incidence of Partner Violence Cont.
 1.5 million women and 830,000 men were victims of
intimate violence in the United States
 15.5 million children live in families where violence has
occurred and about 7 million have witnessed severe
violence
 These rates are apparently decreasing

5. Emerging Approaches to
Partner Violence
 Scream Quietly or the Neighbors Will Hear, 1974 (England)
 National Organization for Women and Massachusetts
Coalition of Battered Women Service Groups (United States)
 The Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth,
Minnesota (Duluth Model)
 Police procedures, increased prosecution of partner violence, and
enhanced legal protection
 Countywide coordinated community responses
 Domestic violence units have been formed
 The Violence Against Women Act of 1994

6. Psychosocial and Cultural Dynamics
 Attachment/Traumatic Bonding Theory
 Coercive control
 Cultural reinforcement
 Exchange Theory
 Feminist Theory
 Intraindividual Theory
 Learned Helplessness/Battered Woman Syndrome
 Masochism
 Nested Ecological Theory
 Psychological entrapment
 Sociobiology
 Stockholm Syndrome
 System Theory

7. Dynamics of Partner Violence
 Psychological factors
 Behaviors of men vs. women
 Stressors
 Geographic and social isolation
 Economic stress
 Medical problems
 Inadequate parenting skills
 Pregnancy
 Family dysfunction
 Substance abuse
 Education/vocational disparity
 Age
 Disenfranchisement
 Rejection
 Threat to masculinity

8. Dynamics of Partner Violence Cont.
 Types of batterers
 Family only
 Dysphoric/borderline
 Violent/anti-social
 Low-level anti-social
 The cycle of violence
 Phase I: Tranquility prevails
 Phase II: Tensions starts to build
 Phase III: A violent episode occurs
 Phase IV: The relationship takes on crisis proportions
 Abuser is remorseful and the victim forgives them
 Abuser is not remorseful and asserts control over the victim
 The victim takes new action

9. Myths About Battering
 Battered women overstate the case
 Battered women provoke the beating
 Battered women are masochists
 Battering is a private, family matter
 Alcohol abuse is the prime reason for spousal abuse
 Battering occurs only in problem families
 Only low-income and working-class families
experience violence

10. Myths About Battering Cont.
 The battering cannot be that bad or the victim would leave
 A husband has patriarchal rights
 The beaten spouse exaggerates the problem to exact
revenge
 Women are too sensitive, especially when they are
pregnant
 Battering is rare
 Battering is confined to mentally ill people
 Violence and love cannot coexist
 Elder abuse between partners is neither prevalent nor
dangerous

11. Realities for Abused Women
 Victim has a fear of reprisal.
 She is grateful that her children have food, clothing, and shelter.
 She believes that she will suffer shame if her secret gets out.
 Her self-concept is dependent on the relationship.
 Early affection and prior love in the relationship persist.
 If financially well off, the woman is unable to deal with a reduction
in her financial freedom.
 In the cyclic nature of abuse, she may tend to forget the batterings
and remember only the good times.
 Early role models of an abusive parent may lead her to believe that
relationships exist in no other way.

12. Realities for Abused Women Cont.
 The woman may hold religious values that strongly discourage
separation or divorce.
 The woman may be undereducated, have small children to raise, or
lack job skills.
 She may be so socially, physically, geographically, or financially
isolated that she has no resources.
 She may be so badly injured that she is unable physically to leave.
 Love or sorrow at the mate’s professed inability to exist without her
may compel her to stay.
 Because of previous negative experiences with the authorities, she
may believe she has no options.
 Due to language barriers, she may be unable to communicate her
abuse.
Leaving an abusive relationship is one of the most dangerous
things the victim can do.

13. Intervention Strategies
 Assessment
 Personality measures
 Clinical interviews
 Medical settings
 Crisis lines
 Components of intervention
 Listening
 Supporting
 Facilitating
 Ensuring safety
 Advocting
 Transcrisis perspective

14. Shelters
 Counseling women at shelters
 Shelter dynamics
 Grief
 Depression
 Terror
 Those who have decided to leave
 Follow-up
 Counseling
 Victim may relapse and re-unite with the abuser
 Long-term follow support (6 months)
 Going to a shelter without follow-up may increase violence

15. Intervention With Children
 Art and play models of therapy
 Treatment goals:
• Create an alliance with the parent
• Provide psycho-education to both parent and child
• Restore the parent’s self-esteem and confidence
• Establish a safe environment for the child to express thoughts
and feelings
• Relieve the child’s symptoms, including difficulty with living
transitions, sleeping, nightmares, and other trauma symptoms
• Reestablish the child’s previous level of cognitive functioning and
attachment with the caregiver
• Reassure that what has happened is not the child’s fault
• Help the child to regain emotional regulation
• Provide stress reduction strategies

16. Courtship Violence
 Violence occurs in approximately 25% of courtship
relationships
 Number of dating partners and dating frequency have
the highest positive correlation
 Grade point average has the highest negative
correlation
 25% of victims and 30 percent of offenders interviewed
interpreted violence in courtship as a sign of love!
 The longer the abusive relationship continues, the
higher the degree of violence
 Stalking

17. Gay and Lesbian Violence
 Prevalence of violence
 Complicating factors
 Crisis intervention involving gay and lesbian
violence
 Sensitivity
 Precipitating factors
 Specific issues
 Severity
 Safety and support
 Treatment issues

18. Treating Batterers
 Intervention models
 Treatment models
 Hybrid models
 Treatment goals
 Assessment
 The intake interview
 Motivation

19. A Typical 24-Session Anger
Management Group
 Starting the Group
 Making Choices
 Support and Confrontation
 Managing Stress
 Understanding the Cycle of Violence
 Costs
 Intergenerational Issues
 Feelings
 Power and Control
 Assertion
 Alcohol and Drug Effects
 Sex
 Summing Up
 Programs Success