Domestic battery often causes children to respond to conflicts with violence later in life.
Providing counseling for batterers is a delicate and often long-lasting process best fit for professional psychotherapists. Both individual and group counseling are often necessary, especially if the batterer is in a close relationship with a spouse or child. Though some batterers may be triggered by inherent anger, usually anger management is only used as a short-term solution, and other techniques are needed to penetrate the real issues and lead to permanent healing.
Batterer Group Therapy
This type of group therapy is a good starting place for a batterer to recover. This type of therapy is usually in a group setting with other batterers, separate from batterer's families, and works as the batterer's version of Alcoholics Anonymous. These sessions usually need to last between 24 and 36 weeks and will consist of members voicing their personal concerns and setting individual goals. Counseling techniques include providing education to batterers on the individual, social, and cultural causes of battery and the restructuring of internal monologues that lead to blame and mistrust. Long-term techniques used by batterers to aid in recovery include maintaining friendships with others from the support group, involvement in community service, and involvement in political action to prevent domestic violence.
Techniques in Individual Psychotherapy
Individual counseling is usually not the best immediate solution for recovery. It is typical for batterers to blame others for their behavior, and since accountability and honesty are paramount to individual counseling, the batterer may be tempted to stop attending individual sessions. However, if the batterer has been through a group intervention and is open to individual counseling, there are many useful techniques to help them recover. A psychotherapist in individual treatment will focus exclusively on the batterer's personal history, values, and beliefs to help him adjust his perceived need to abuse.
Couples/Family Counseling
Marital or family counseling is usually the last step to recovery. If imposed too soon, the victims may downplay the seriousness of the problem to calm the batterer, which makes it easier for him to continue abuse. Also, if the batterer hasn't taken responsibility for his or her actions, the batterer may guilt the family into feeling like the "cause" of all his or her problems, which re-victimizes the family. If a batterer is ready for family therapy, the counselor will help couples identify their perceived roles in a relationship to see if there is an imbalance of equality. Counselors will also encourage victims to understand that they are not the cause of abuse and deserve respect.
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