Help for Abusive Relationships
What Professional Resources Can Help
You Break the Cycle of Domestic Abuse?

 

 

 

by Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D.

One out of every three women will experience a domestic assault in their lifetime. That is a mind-boggling number, and it has been a referenced statistic for four decades. Even more shocking is the fact that this huge number of women represents one of the most under-served populations when it comes to healing in their abusive relationships.

What are the help options for people in battering relationships who seek to end and heal domestic abuse?

Safety and the Get Out Remedy

We are well equipped with local abuse agencies in nearly every large city in the United States and Canada. This most people know. We expect these agencies to serve the general population of domestic abuse victims in their efforts to seek safety from domestic violence.

Many of these agencies provide residential relief in the form of safe shelter from domestic violence. The agencies are typically well versed in domestic abuse safety planning and best strategies for safely leaving an abusive relationship.

However, women in abusive relationships are often seeking therapeutic healing and abusive behavior change as a strategy to interrupt the cycle of domestic abuse in their relationships. They are looking for highly specialized skill in behavioral health.

Marital and Couples Therapy

Traditional therapy is another popular resource for female domestic violence survivors. These women may reach out to their local therapists for help in healing the pain of being abused and in breaking the cycle of abuse in their relationships.

While it appears to be the most appropriate means to treat the problem of domestic abuse, professional literature reveals otherwise. It is common knowledge in domestic violence treatment/intervention circles (and for those people having learned the hard way) that traditional couples/marital therapy is contraindicated in cases of spousal/partner abuse.

The intervention by its nature can inflame the underlying power and control dynamics characteristic of abusive relationships. Some practitioners will go so far as to say that the intervention is dangerous for domestic abuse survivors.

Batterers Intervention Programs

Then, there are programs geared toward the abuser. Batterers’ intervention programs seek to inspire the key component in breaking the cycle of domestic abuse. They are geared toward abuser personal accountability. Their focus on batterers taking responsibility for their abusive behavior, along with their personal feelings and their thoughts, is central to the healing intervention.

As might be expected, these programs mostly serve domestic abusers that are court-ordered to undergo an intervention for their documented abusive behavior. Furthermore, as one might expect, the corrections consequence may or may not inspire therapeutic change in and of itself. Domestic abusers typically hide out in denial until a therapeutic process effectively dismantles the intra-psychic resistance. More often this draws from highly skilled expertise in psychotherapeutic process.

Breaking the Cycle with the Best of Both Worlds

If you are in an abusive relationship, seek to find the best of both worlds to help you and your partner break the cycle of domestic abuse. Find a treatment strategy that encompasses effective psychotherapeutic healing process, and strategies for breaking the power and control dynamics of domestic abuse, while insuring safety for the abused.

You may be one in the three, but you don’t have to be one of the many who go without proper therapeutic care. For information on treatment for domestic abuse, visit http://www.enddomesticabuse.org/domestic_violence_trt.php and claim Free Instant Access to The 7 Realities of Verbal Abuse. Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. helps individuals and couples worldwide recognize, end and heal from domestic abuse.

© Dr Jeanne King — Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention