Why is Marriage Therapy Treatment ineffective for domestic abuse?
We assume that a problem affecting two people in a relationship is material for marital therapy or couples. However, when the problem is intimate partner violence, this is not quite so!
I wanted the father of my children, my ex-husband, to stop violent outbursts with our family. The psychologist / medical / peacemaker in the family said: “We just have to find the” right “person or a method to help solve this problem,” as if there were any physical food. This may sound familiar to those of you who have been there. Altercation after altercation I was desperately seeking a referral from my pediatrician and my OB.
It was suggested that we see a “therapist abuse,” which was actually a marriage and family therapist. My professional experience was in bio-behavioral medicine, so I was in foreign territory, and finally learned that we were in the wrong treatment for the result you want.
Marital therapy, family therapy and family therapy is inadequate treatment scenarios to achieve a therapeutic change for domestic abuse. The problem is that these interventions are based on a perspective of family systems in which the goal of treatment is to maintain the homeostasis of the system.
Working from a systems approach, the therapist tries to distribute the responsibility of the pathology in the entire system. However, the diffusion of responsibility for abuse in relationships equally to all parties in the relationship reinforces the dynamics of abuse. Explicitly and / or implicitly blame the victim for the behavior of the aggressor, and not to promote personal responsibility for the behavior of partner abuse.
While this may keep the couple and the family together-no and can not stop the abuse. On the contrary, it exacerbates the abuse, emotional abuse, verbal and physical abuse. Some clinicians view this method of treatment in cases of domestic violence not only as ineffective in stopping domestic abuse, but also as dangerous for the victims partner. That was certainly my experience. The riots increased in frequency and intensity of lame-verbal and emotional abuse bruises, welts, cuffs and belts.
As a survivor of domestic violence, my hope is that you seek appropriate intervention if intimate partner violence occurs in their relationship. Many people, both health and non health professionals are unaware of the timely intervention of domestic violence.
And even more alarming: a few health professionals have a systematic method to assess the couple, spousal abuse (intimate partner violence). Without a proper assessment, one may be the treatment of your problem in the dark.
If you are indeed the face of violence by a couple looking to find a domestic abuse victim advocacy program and a batterer intervention program. These approaches try to abuse similar to the way to treat addiction to substance abuse interventions, ie the responsibility of the aggressor. Until a couple’s abuser is responsible, domestic violence continues in time, and passed through generations.
If you are not sure whether the problems of abuse in relationships are actually the property of intimate partner violence, then, look first to determine if the abuse in their relationship meets the criteria for partner violence. In this way you will know throughout the intervention to continue to provide the desired result.