The Role of Affect Regulation in a Case of Attempted Maternal-Filicide Suicide: Commentary on an Act of Despair

Siegel, Judith P.

doi:10.1007/s10615-007-0129-x

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…Many of the women who suffer from partner violence experience a potent combination of high-risk experiences including current financial hardship or poverty, and ongoing relationship conflict. Accumulated trauma often leads to symptoms consistent with the diagnosis of complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Siegel 2007).…”

Section: Emotional Dysregulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Splitting and Emotional Regulation in Partner Violence

Siegel

Forero

2011

Clin Soc Work J

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Interventions with victims of partner violence can become stymied until the clinician recognizes and accepts client vacillations as integral to the work. Appraisals and decisions that are reached in a therapy session may appear to be reversed or forgotten once the client returns home. Treatment strategies that focus on emotional regulation and splitting can help strengthen client awareness of contradicting beliefs, thereby strengthening self-efficacy and problem-solving.Keywords Splitting Á Emotional regulation Á Partner violence in agency settings Social workers are often dismayed when clients who have suffered partner violence remain with or return to their abusing partners despite the risk for serious harm. While intimate violence is not determined by socioeconomic class, women who struggle with poverty find themselves facing higher risk and fewer options. Clinicians who have worked to provide shelter and the potential for independent living struggle with the limitations they have to help victims of partner violence create a violence-free life for themselves and for the children who are also jeopardized by their return to a violent home. In a field where the stakes are life and death, there is an acute need for new strategies that can be substantiated from both clinical and empirical perspectives. Interventions based on splitting and emotional regulation may add to a collaboration that allows clinician and client to manage stressful situations and maintain safety. These concepts will be explored and applied through theory and a Case Study. SplittingThe concept of splitting originated with Freud (1940), but has acquired expanded meaning with the development of object relations theories. While Freud spoke of splitting as the simultaneous existence of dual, conflicting perspectives, object relations theorists viewed splitting as a defense mechanism that played an important role in establishing a healthy intrapsychic structure. (Meissner 1986;Volkan 1976). According to this theory, a primary task of childhood is the acquisition of a representational world that contains internalized versions of caretakers who have adequately supplied emotional resources such as soothing and validation (the 'all good') as well as those who failed to respond to the child's needs (the 'all bad'). At the same time, the child incorporates representations of him/herself as being worthy of love and attention (the 'all good' me) or undeserving and inadequate (the 'all bad'me). The goal of rapprochement is to assimilate the contradictory aspects of caretakers, leading to an object world that may sometimes disappoint, but, for the most part, is good enough. In a similar way, aspects of identity are coalesced, so that personal flaws and limitations can be tolerated without compromising a sense of self that is worthwhile and capable. Scholars of identity (Lax 1986) suggest that splitting exists to protect the growing representations until the point that the good outweighs the bad. Only then can

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Section: Emotional Dysregulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Splitting and Emotional Regulation in Partner Violence

Siegel

Forero

2011

Clin Soc Work J

Self Cite

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Mentalizing in the Therapeutic Relationship with an Older Adolescent: The Case of Fred

Lucente

2009

Psychoanalytic Social Work

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Denial, Dissociation, and Emotional Memories in Couples Treatment

Siegel¹

2012

Couple and Family Psychoanalysis

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Denial and dissociation are analytic constructs that indicate the presence of overwhelming affect. Trauma studies and neuroscience research offer important contributions that can expand and reinforce an analytic approach to these dynamics in couples. Through focusing on emotional memories, emotional regulation, and countertransference, the therapist may become more aware and comfortable with this work.

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The Role of Affect Regulation in a Case of Attempted Maternal-Filicide Suicide: Commentary on an Act of Despair

Cited by 4 publications

References 16 publications

Splitting and Emotional Regulation in Partner Violence

Splitting and Emotional Regulation in Partner Violence

Mentalizing in the Therapeutic Relationship with an Older Adolescent: The Case of Fred

Denial, Dissociation, and Emotional Memories in Couples Treatment

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