Reductions in Marital Violence Following Treatment for Alcohol Dependence

Abstract

The impact of an intensive, individually based, partial hospitalization treatment for alcohol dependence on alcohol use, marital violence, psychological abuse, and marital satisfaction among 24 heterosexual male patients and their partners was assessed. Patients received 5 to 6 days of substance abuse treatment in a partial hospital. Patient and partner assessments were conducted at baseline and 6- and 12-month follow-up. Results revealed decreased alcohol use in patients and significant declines in husband-to-wife marital violence and psychological abuse from baseline to 6- and 12-month follow-up. Men reported no significant changes in their marital satisfaction. Results also showed significant decreases in wife-to-husband violence from baseline to 6- and 12-month follow-up. Female partners reported a significant increase in marital satisfaction from baseline to 6- and 12-month follow-up. Overall, the study suggests that marital violence perpetrated by male patients and their partners declined following the males' substance abuse treatment. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

Alcohol and intimate partner violence: when can we say that heavy drinking is a contributing cause of violence?

“…Recently, there have a number of reports that suggest treatment for alcohol dependence is associated with reductions in intimate partner violence (O'Farrell & Choquette 1991;O'Farrell et al 2003;Stuart et al 2003), that this reduction is also apparent for verbal aggression (O'Farrell et al 2000) and that this reduction is observable up to 2 years post-treatment (O'Farrell et al 1999). In addition, this research has demonstrated that alcoholics who relapsed did not reduce their violence, whereas alcoholics in remission did reduce their violence (O'Farrell & Murphy 1995).…”

Effect of co-occurring disorders and intimate partner violence on substance abuse treatment outcomes

“…Violence victimization may also negatively impact substance abuse treatment outcomes (Farley, Golding, Young, Mulligan, & Minkoff, 2004), although there is evidence to suggest that treatment for substance abuse alone or for COD may reduce both IPV victimization and perpetration in the posttreatment year (Maiden, 1997;O'Farrell, Fals-Stewart, Murphy, & Murphy, 2003;O'Farrell, Van Hutton, & Murphy 1999;Stuart et al, 2003). Moreover, studies examining the effect of dual treatment of substance abuse and IPV have found that IPV may be reduced when addressed in the context of substance abuse treatment and supplemented by behavioral couples therapy (Fals-Stewart, Birchler, & Kelley, 2006;FalsStewart, Kashdan, O'Farrell, & Birchler, 2002;Fals-Stewart, O'Farrell, & Birchler, 2001;O'Farrell, Murphy, Stephan, FalsStewart, & Murphy, 2004;O'Farrell et al, 1999;Stuart, 2005).…”

Tratamiento de agresores contra la pareja en programas de atención a drogodependientes: un reto de futuro

“…Los resultados han puesto de manifiesto que la intervención estándar para las adicciones, en pacientes drogodependientes con problemas asociados de violencia contra la pareja, provoca una disminución importante en las conductas violentas, a pesar de no intervenir específicamente en este ámbito Stuart et al, 2003). En el estudio de O'Farrell et al (2003), por ejemplo, con una muestra de 301 hombres alcohólicos, la presencia de violencia contra la pareja disminuyó del 56% antes del tratamiento al 25% después del mismo, a pesar de no haber recibido una intervención específica para ello.…”