Educational Objectives:

The overall goal of this course is to help psychotherapists understand the complexities involved in domestic violence and enable them to make predictions, assessments and interventions in these volatile and often tragic situations.
This course will teach psychotherapists to
• Utilize spousal and partner abuse assessments.
• Detect and identify domestic violence.
• Apply domestic violence interventions.
• Summarize the complex system involved in domestic violence.
• Specify cultural, same gender, and other factors in domestic violence.
• Review the current research on female batterers.
• Explore the interventions that are available to couples in which intimate partner violence is present.
• Identify and update the relevant California laws.
• Review the relevant parts of the Ethics codes to intimate partner violence and offer an ethical decision-making process.
• Identify community and other resources.

Course Syllabus:

• Personality Characteristics and the Battered Woman Syndrome
  • Battered Women's Personality and the Debate over the DSM
  • Psychological Assessment and Measurements
  • Battered Women Syndrome, Self Esteem and Depression
• Male Batterers
  • Incidence, Characteristics, & Types of Batterers
  • Investigation, Prosecution, & Interventions
  • Factors: Society, Culture, & Family, Attrition
• Lenore Walker's Cycle of Violence
  • Assessment of the Cycle of Violence
  • Theoretical Implications, Research, & Interventions
• The Abusive Personality and Alcohol and Drug Use
• Intervention Strategies and their Critique
  • Male Spouse Abuse Sub-Type
  • Evolution of Treatment Approaches: Client-Centered, Self Psychology, and Dynamic Approaches
  • The Compassion Workshop & Solution-Focused Approaches
• Psychotherapeutic Responses to Violent Relationships
  • Social Responsibility & Shelters
  • Evaluation for Battered Woman Syndrome & Safety Plans
  • Therapeutic Techniques with the Battered and Batterers
• Treatment of Assaultive Men from an Attachment Perspective
  • Considerations in Treating Assaultive Men
  • The Secure Base in Psychotherapy
  • Exploring Current Relationships with Attachment Figures and the Relationship with the Psychotherapist
• Partner Violence in Ethnic Minority Families
  • African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American
  • Americans: Incidence of Violence among Ethnic Minorities
  • Acculturation, Stereotypes, Barrier to Treatment
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Relationships
  • The Prevalence of the Problem
  • Research Findings & The Legal System
  • Availability of (or lack of) Resources & List of Resources
  • The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP)
• Situational Couple Violence – Variations on a Cycle Theme
• Walker's Violent Trends: Do they hold in those who experience Common Couple Violence?
• Female Batterers:
  • Who are they?
  • Do they exist?
  • Are they different than men batterers?
  • Are they viewed and treated differently than man batterers?
• Changes in Social Policy that might actually promote reduction of IPV
• Averting disaster: What successful couples do
• Redirecting couples for success
• California Laws and Regulations, Codes of Ethics and Ethical Decision-Making
• Sections of California Law that Pertain to Spousal and Partner Abuse
  • Training Requirements
• APA, CAMFT and NASW Codes of Ethics - Codes relevant to Spousal and Partner Abuse
• Resources

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