Current family therapy theories and practices of domestic violence place an important emphasis on gender. Employing the notion of intersectionality, this article demonstrates how the relevance and applicability of contemporary theories and practices may be enhanced through the inclusion of primary dimensions of social life, including but not limited to race, class, and sexual orientation. Theoretical in nature, this article suggests future directions for theory construction and clinical practice, drawing on literature not easily accessible to most marital and family therapists.
As family therapists begin to experiment with couples treatment models for batterers and their partners, a basic question is: Which couples can be safely treated with conjoint therapy? Following a definition of battering and a review of rationales for considering couples therapy in cases of domestic violence, a framework for assessment of domestic violence is outlined, including sample questions, criteria for excluding couples from conjoint therapy, how to conduct a lethality assessment, and how to conceptualize postassessment treatment recommendations. This article also introduces family and couples therapists to domestic violence literature that is often not well integrated in family therapy theory and practice.
It is suggested that, in theory and practice, family systems approaches to wife battering contain biases against women. Following a selective review of family systems literature on wife battering, systemic formulations of husband-to-wife violence are critically examined. Possible contraindications of conjoint therapy with battered women and abusive men are discussed.
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