Couple Therapy for Partner Aggression: Effects on Individual and Relational Well-Being

Abstract

The authors examined degrees to which couple therapy for psychological and mild to moderate physical partner aggression improved partners' general distrust in each other and their emotional comfort regarding engaging in a conflict-resolution discussion. A secondary analysis was conducted on data from 55 heterosexual couples who sought treatment at a university-based community clinic. Over the course of therapy, participants exhibited decreased general distrust in their partners, as well as decreased anxiety and increased positive moods prior to engaging in the discussion. Individuals' pre-therapy levels of distrust, anxiety, and positive mood were correlated with their post-therapy levels of those outcome measures, and the male and female partners' changes in distrust and positive mood were significantly correlated. Greater decreases in female partners' physical and psychological aggression were associated with greater decreases in male partners' anxiety, and there was a trend toward a greater decrease in men's physical aggression being associated with a greater decrease in women's distrust. Both men's and women's decreases in physical aggression also were associated with increases in their own anxiety. Couple therapy both reduces partner aggression and increases partners' perceptions of safety in the relationship, but those changes are not necessarily correlated.

Comparison of the Effectiveness of Therapist-Assisted Couple Therapy and Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy on Psychological Well-Being, Negotiation Enhancement, and Aggression Reduction in Women Victims of Spousal Violence

“…These findings are consistent with those of Aslani and colleagues (2019), which demonstrated that domestic violence couple therapy reduced violence against women (Aslani et al, 2020). Moreover, the findings of Valladares Kahn et al (2015) showed that couple therapy significantly impacts reducing aggression and enhancing the psychological well-being and relationships between couples (Valladares Kahn et al, 2015). These results are also in line with other prior findings (Beasley & Ager, 2019;Ganz et al, 2022;Hassannejad et al, 2017;Rathgeber et al, 2019;Saemi et al, 2020;Sheydanfar et al, 2020).…”

“…Well-being refers to an individual's satisfaction with life, intellectual cultural conditions, goals, expectations, and concerns based on which they live (Hooshmand Kang Sofla et al, 2020;Khanjani et al, 2014). Psychological well-being reflects the quality of life experienced and indicates optimal psychological functioning and experience from one's own life (Asghariebrahimabad & Mamizade, 2018;Hooshmand Kang Sofla et al, 2020;Valladares Kahn et al, 2015). Individuals with high levels of psychological well-being generally experience more positive emotions and have a positive evaluation of events that occur throughout their lives (Asghariebrahimabad & Mamizade, 2018;Siffert & Schwarz, 2011), usually benefiting from sufficient emotional growth and positive psychological functioning (Siffert & Schwarz, 2011;Valladares Kahn et al, 2015).…”

Terapia de Casal em Contextos de Violência Conjugal: revisão integrativa da literatura

“…No que se refere aos delineamentos metodológicos, sete artigos foram de revisão de literatura ou teóricos (Antunes-Alves e De Stefano, 2013; Brown e James, 2014; Carr, 2014;Cicila et al, 2014;Ibaceta, 2011;McCollum et al, 2011;Stith et al, 2012). Dos estudos empíricos quantitativos, cinco tinham delineamento explicativo (DeBoer et al, 2012;Froerer et al, 2012;Kahn et al, 2015;Rowe et al, 2011;Watkins et al, 2015) e um delineamento exploratório (Vall et al, 2015), sendo que, nesses estudos, todos os participantes eram casais heterossexuais. Considerando os estudos empíricos qualitativos, dois estudos tinham delineamento exploratório (Karakurt et al, 2013;Vall et al, 2014) e um foi etnográfico (Martinez et al, 2011).…”

“…Evidenciando dados favoráveis à utilização de terapia com casais violentos, pesquisadores da área referem que a terapia de casal reduz a agressão entre parceiros e também aumenta a percepção de segurança na relação, ainda que essas mudanças não estejam necessariamente correlacionadas (Kahn et al, 2015). Aponta-se também que a terapia em conjunto pode ser direcionada tanto para que o perpetrador assuma a responsabilidade pela agressão quanto para auxiliar os parceiros a desenvolverem capacidades mútuas de resolução de conflitos (Antunes-Alves e De Stefano, 2013).…”

“…Watkins et al (2015) Examinar processos diádicos e situacionais que podem levar à perpetração de IPV, de acordo com o modelo I 3 de Finkel. Kahn et al (2015) Examinar em que grau a terapia de casal para agressão psicológica e física branda a moderada aumenta a desconfiança geral entre os parceiros e seu conforto emocional no que se refere a encarar uma discussão para resolução de conflitos.…”