Couples Treatment for Interpersonal Violence: A Review of Outcome Research Literature and Current Clinical Practices

Abstract

Conjoint couples treatment for interpersonal partner violence (IPV) remains controversial despite a growing body of research and practice experience indicating that it can be effective and safe. In addition, developing typologies of couples who are violent suggest that a “one-size-fits-all” treatment approach to IPV is not appropriate and conjoint treatment may have a place in the treatment of at least some couples. In this article, we review the experimental studies and clinical practices of conjoint treatment. Based on this review, we suggest current best practices for this approach to treatment. Best practices include couples treatment as part of a larger community response to IPV, careful screening of couples for inclusion in couples treatment, modification of typical conjoint approaches to promote safety and ongoing assessment of safety with contingency plans for increased risk.

Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programs: A Proposal for Evidence-Based Standards in the United States

“…• If mutual combat, refer to couples treatment of IPV (McCollum & Stith, 2008;Simpson et al, 2008 • If family-only with borderline tendencies (Cavanaugh et al, 2011;Fruzzetti & Levensky, 2000;Kliem et al, 2010;Tollefson & Phillips, 2015;Tollefson et al, 2009): ✓ Dialectical behavior therapy ✓ Mindfulness ✓ Affect regulation skills…”

Controversies Involving Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in the United States

“…Furthermore, some states have already prohibited the use of conjoint or couples therapy as a treatment for any type of domestic violence or prohibited this mode of therapy while the presumably male batterer is in an intervention program for domestic violence (e.g., Vermont, Illinois, California, Colorado). This is true in spite of some preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of dyadic interventions for some types of violent couples ) and in the face of the articulation of a best practices model which would include couples treatment as one part of community response to intimate partner violence (McCollum and Stith 2008).…”

Domestic Violence and Couples Counseling: The Importance of Assessment and Understanding Typologies in Treatment

“…By contrast, forms of battering such as intimate terrorism and mutual violent control refer to a process of repeated intimidation in an effort to control on behalf of one partner in a relationship (Johnson & Ferraro;Stith, Rosen, McCollum, & Thomsen, 2004). Domestic violence overall has long been treated in the clinical theater as a one-sided problem, despite scholarship to suggest the potential benefits of more versatile treatments in specific circumstances, particularly when aggression is mutual (D. G. Dutton, 2006;McCollum & Stith, 2008). Although couple-based treatments have been shown to be effective in certain situations that closely mirror the specifics of CCV (Stith et al, 2004), there appears to exist some degree of reluctance among researchers and Domestic Violence 287 scholars to investigate or utilize couple-based treatments, instead focusing attention on the notion of battering by males as the issue of greater significance (e.g., Dasgupta, 2002;Jordan, Campbell, & Follingstad, 2009;Miller & Meloy, 2006).…”

“…Safety concerns abound for all parties involved and research regarding the etiology and treatment of domestic violence varies considerably. Scholarship suggests that couples treatment may be effective in certain circumstances (D. G. Dutton, 2006;McCollum & Stith, 2008), but consensus is limited regarding the specific situations in which a couple-focused approach is more effective than individual treatment and vice versa. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of research related to the treatment of domestic violence in general, and to offer case examples illustrating situations in which individual treatment is ideal, as well as situations in which adjunct couples work may potentially be useful.…”