Seeking Validation and Healing: Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence Victims in Psychotherapy
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Authors
Leedom, Liane J.
Issue Date
2016-04-01
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Intimate partner violence , Psychotherapy , Victim
Alternative Title
Abstract
The considerable personal and societal costs of domestic violence have prompted legislation regarding mandatory training in screening for the condition by health care providers. However, treatment resources are scarce. The costliest form of domestic violence, intimate partner terrorism (IPT), is characterized by power imbalance in the relationship that is enforced through psychological, emotional, physical, sexual and financial abuse (Stark, 2009). Symptoms of cluster B personality disorders (borderline, narcissistic, antisocial/psychopathic) link to patterns of abuse in perpetrators of IPT. Victims typically enter into the relationship unaware of their partner’s disorder. The onset of abuse is insidious as the perpetrator gradually undermines the victim’s self-confidence and reality testing while isolating him/her from social supports (Leedom, Geislin, & Hartoonian Almas, 2013). The abuse experience leads to anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance use disorders and stress-related physical illness. Although good evidence based therapies exist for these disorders, (cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic, among others) there is little research regarding how the presence of IPT impacts treatment. There is no evidence based therapy that specifically targets the victim syndrome. The first step in designing such a therapy, is to ascertain how and if the needs of victims of IPT are served by current community treatments. Study Objective: The objective of this study was to survey a large number of IPT victims regarding their experiences in psychotherapy in order to determine the relative strengths and weaknesses of current community therapy practices. This study used a mixed methods approach that gathered numerical data and allowed victims to describe their experiences in their own words.