Article Intimate Partner Violence: Making the Case for Joint Couple Treatment

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has received increasing public awareness in recent decades because of its prevalence and widespread deleterious and sometimes fatal effects. While clinicians and researchers alike are turning their attention more than ever to the treatment of the problem, there is continuing debate in the field on how to best address and manage the problem legally, socially, and therapeutically. This article adds to the debate by reviewing some of the major issues in IPV and its treatment. In spite of advances in our understanding, the use of gender exclusive batterer groups continues to be a preferred approach to dealing with the problem. We describe how and why, in many cases, conjoint couple therapy has replaced group treatment as an alternate approach and provide empirical evidence in support of this practice. We conclude with some practical guidelines for clinicians who are to engage in conjoint treatment for IPV. Keywords intimate partner violence, batterer groups, couple therapy, couple counseling Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a painful reality in the rela-tionships of men and women of all ages, cultural backgrounds, and socioeconomic classes and as such it is seen as a major social problem. The harmful effects of IPV extend to all area