Domestic Violence Counseling:
Can Psychotherapy
Help Domestic Abuse Survivors?

Dr. King


by Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D.


Domestic violence victims shy away from psychotherapy because they fear the therapist will validate their abusers allegations that they are the “one with the problem.” This is to be expected because more often than not, this is indeed their experience.

While in some respects avoiding psychotherapy can be self-preserving for domestic abuse survivors, ultimately it can be more of a setback and loss. This article is intended to help you understand the value of psychotherapy when psychotherapy is effective.

When Psychotherapy Is Effective

Psychotherapy is a process of inner work that results in positive life changes. It can be as simple as catching yourself doing something differently, netting an outcome that is more favorable to your liking.

It can be your seeing, feeling or being a way that enriches who and what you are or have known yourself to be. It can simply open the door for your renewed sense of self, reduced pain, or diminished physical symptomology.

And in all cases psychotherapy is what you make of it. Why? Because it’s not a pill that does onto you. It’s a process that occurs within you, inspired by a healing agent and yourself. What are the key factors that contribute to positive outcome in psychotherapy?

3 Points to Effective Psychotherapy

1) The pervasive affective component is the core point of entry into a piece of work. It’s the feeling state, the emotional bodily felt sense present in the context of a situation or your thoughts of a situation. Now once this affective component is clearly identified as such, the work has “change potential.”

2) The cognitive component is the means to psychotherapeutic movement when that cognition springs from the affective component or when the cognition is innocently interacting with the affective component.

3) Life experience is where your know your therapy to have been therapeutic. You discover yourself doing, thinking, saying, feeling, being different and this difference yielding a desirable outcome enriching your life.

If you are in psychotherapy or looking to begin psychotherapy, seek to find a change agent or therapist that helps you uncover these points to effective psychotherapy. This will provide you with the platform for healing what troubles you both today and tomorrow.

For more information about therapeutic healing that you can actually do on your own, see Psychological Healing for Domestic Abuse and Domestic Abuse Healing from Within. Psychologist Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. has been helping people heal from the inside out for over a quarter of a century.

Copyright 2009 Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. www.PreventAbusiveRelationships.com All Rights Reserved.

This series of eInsights is presented to you by Partners in Prevention, a nonprofit organization. If you find this eInsight article useful, we invite you to contribute to the maintenance and growth of the Survivor Success Tips & eInsights. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit www.EndDomesticAbuse.org

Dr. Jeanne King is a licensed psychologist and domestic abuse consultant. Feel free to contact us if you need help with physical and/or emotional pain, stress-related illnesses, or relationship abuse issues at home or in court. Contact Us to reach Dr. King.