Intimate Partner Violence: Clinical Interventions with Partners and Their Children

by Samuel R. Aymer

Overview

Intimate Partner Violence: Clinical Interventions with Partners and Their Children brings into focus an ecological and clinical frame for addressing the resulting psychological effects of intimate partner violence (IPV). Aymer presents a perspective that is often omitted from social science textbooks which are geared to policy practice, tending to expose students to macro-systemic ideas (including criminal justice policies and procedures) relative to IPV. However, this book expands clinical practice pedagogy by reinforcing the need for students to go beyond macro issues in order to deliver competent clinically-based interventions that help partners and their children work through the consequential effects of partner violence. Designed for graduate students in social work, psychology, gender studies and allied mental health programs, it expands the discourse, arguing that IPV is a complex psycho-social-political-relational problem that must be understood from a multi-theoretical perspective. Through case studies, theory, research, and the author's clinical practice wisdom, this text will: increase understanding of how to work clinically with women affected by IPV, increase knowledge of how to work with abusive men, heighten knowledge of how IPV affects children and adolescents, expand knowledge of social and cultural notions, and explore men's role in terms of advocating against gender-based violence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538124956
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/09/2021
Pages:	194
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.41(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Samuel R. Aymer, PhD, is associate professor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. For over twenty-five years, Dr. Aymer worked as a therapist in the field of intimate partner abuse with abused women and abusive men, as a group facilitator for batterers’ treatment programs, and as a director of training for programs designed to serve victims and abusers of intimate partner abuse and community violence. He also supervised counselors and therapists who served abused women, children, and abusive men. Currently, his research and scholarship center on the multiple ways in which IPV affects the psychosocial needs of children and adults, as well as the application of psychodynamic theories in clinical work with diverse client populations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1 The Traditional Framing of Intimate Partner Violence

2 Sociocultural and Intersectional Factors Underlying IPV: Centering Black and Brown Women

3 Women’s Formative Experiences and Exposure to IPV in the Family: An Object Relations Framework

4 Adolescent Males’ Exposure to IPV: Practice Issues

5 Mothering and Motherhood in the Context of IPV

6 Toxic Masculinity and Men Who Batter

7 A Self-Psychological Frame for Working with an Abused Woman

8 Men’s Work: A Call to Action Concerning Violence against Women and Girls

9 Shared Vulnerability: Countertransferential Reactions, Supervision, and Self-Care

Appendix 1: Key IVP Terms

Appendix 2: A Biopsychosocial Assessment Framework for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Cases Involving Cisgender Women

Appendix 3: A Biopsychosocial Assessment Framework for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Cases Involving Cisgender Men

References

Index

Editorial Reviews

Aymer's brilliant capacity to read the historical, cultural, and racial trends as well as the necessary nuances of the dynamics of domestic violence, sets this book apart. His clinical acuity differentiates his voice. He centers the impact of violence against women, while uniquely recognizing the psychic wounds of those who commit the harm. Aymer's work will be treasured for years to come.

Linda G. Mills

The organization of Aymer’s book makes it an excellent tool for learning about clinical interventions for adults and children impacted by intimate partner violence, as well as learning about sound clinical practice more generally. While clinical case presentations bring the specific topics discussed in each chapter to life, the extremely helpful recommendations to clinicians further elucidate clinical approaches with a clarity and a usefulness that is rarely seen, even in the best clinical texts.

The breadth of the information contained in this text is amazing. However, all the more amazing is that Aymer so clearly demonstrates that an understanding of intersectionality and the development of ethno-cultural competency with regard to clinical work cannot be simply an afterthought but must be fully integrated into every aspect of the work.

Richard G. Dudley