Week 5: Discussion, Summary & Reflection

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Intervention Strategies  Assessment

 Personality measures  Clinical interviews  Medical settings  Crisis lines

 Components of intervention  Listening  Supporting  Facilitating  Ensuring safety  Advocting  Transcrisis perspective

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

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

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

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

Treating Batterers  Intervention models

 Treatment models

 Hybrid models

 Treatment goals

 Assessment

 The intake interview

 Motivation

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