NCJ Number
161226
Date Published
1996
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This chapter draws lessons from battered women to devise guidelines for clinical violence intervention.
Abstract
The authors advise that it is important to distinguish woman battering from other forms of family violence, such as child and elder abuse, as well as husband abuse. Otherwise, therapists will tend to conclude that battered women's needs are similar to those of other victims of violence within the family. To recognize domestic violence means to understand the dynamics of violent intimate relationships, particularly gendered relationships. In this context, domestic battery includes not only repeated episodes of physical or sexual abuse but also emotional abuse, degradation, limitations on freedom of movement, limitations on freedom of association, the destruction of property, threatened or real child abuse, stalking, retaliation, and isolation from friends and family. Its core is a pattern of coercive control over key aspects of the victim's life. The latter part of this chapter draws lessons from battered women on how they should be treated. First, do no harm; judgmental, blaming attitudes that battered women sometimes face in health care do harm. Second, seek strategies that empower the woman and promote long-term social change while meeting her immediate needs. Third, whatever you do, do with the woman, not to her. This involves building an arena in which the woman can build control, build her own sense of accomplishment, and recover her self-esteem. Finally, measure treatment success by diminishment in the woman's isolation, the development of an environment of safety and freedom, and enhancement of the understanding of domestic violence in organizations within the community.