Rethinking the Gender Paradigm in Domestic Violence Treatment

Domestic violence often leads a therapist to determine that couples therapy is "contra-indicated", which may lead to treatment that could be helpful not being utilized. In this interview, John Hamel, PhD, LCSW discusses what the research tells us, and how his entry into the field of working with men who were domestically violent began with a model that was focused on men enforcing a patriarchy on women, but has evolved to consider the many ways that abuse manifests itself, from escalating conflicts fueled by poor impulse control and communication skills, to a pattern of domineering behaviors intended to control the partner, typically involving a personality disorder. John discussed how often men are vilified, and women are identified as helpless "victims", although the problem is much more complex. John explains how working with the couple together, the men individually, or in a group should be assessed, and that actually, working the couple may be a very effective means of repairing the couples' relationship and overcoming violence and anger problems. John Hamel, PhD, LCSW has authored several books on domestic violence including Gender-Including Treatment of Intimate Partner Abuse, Family Interventions in Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner and Family Abuse: A Casebook of Gender-Inclusive Therapy, and is currently editing the upcoming book, Beyond the Gender Paradigm: A Legal Primer on Evidence-Based Criminal Justice Approaches to Intimate Partner Violence. John provides therapy, oversees an anger management program, is an expert witness, teacher, and author. He has published numerous books, chapters, and peer reviewed research on the topic of domestic violence. For more information, you can go to his website at: www.johnhamel.net