The battered woman's significant other / by Jack Ronald Brown

Includes bibliographical references (pages 92-94)The project describes an eighteeen month effort\ud with men involved in domestic violence. The work\ud begins with my personal motivation, and my training\ud as a facilitator through a volunteer group (Victims\ud Anonymous). The initial contacts are defined and\ud the formation of a continuing therapy group is described. \ud The methodology and the emerging patterns are looked at\ud and the results discussed. An analysis is made from\ud various psychological perspectives, and finally, a look\ud at new directions for helping the offender and his loved\ud ones.\ud The group is comprised of men seeking help and the\ud study is limited to this special population. The methodology centers around taking responsibility, having choices,\ud and restructuring perceived sex- roles. An open-group\ud design is used with humanistic techniques.\ud The patterns that emerge from the group are those\ud of: low self-esteem, dependency, stereotyped roles and\ud feelings of inadequacy. It becomes apparent that a\ud relationship problem exists and the project explores the\ud dependency/control and security versus freedom conflicts\ud that consistently surface. Sibling placement and lack of\ud father influence appear as significant factors.\ud The results of the group are very positive with regard\ud to stopping violence. There were only three recurrences out\ud of approximately 350 that would have occurred without intervention.\ud The lack of psychological growth is discussed, finding very little improvement in the relationships,\ud other than reducing violence.\ud The results and patterns are looked at from a behavioral\ud view, a modern-day, Gestalt perspective, a\ud humanistic, and finally a look at the system using object\ud relation and family system theory. The behavioral look\ud points out probable reinforcement systems at work and the\ud Gestalt and humanistic view describe the behavior in an\ud existential perspective. The family system and object relation\ud theory explore the family of origin and the\ud possibility of the influence of 9enerational patterns.\ud A commitment towards a new direction surfaces from\ud the belief that the relationship needs to be worked on\ud from a system perspective. Plans for a couples' group and\ud family therapy are discussed, seeing these techniques\ud as the future direction for treatment of domestic violence\ud offenders and victims