Is there a place for conjoint treatment of couple violence?

We present our approach to treating couple violence in a couples format through a treatment model that integrates sociopolitical, cognitive-behavioral, and social learning levels of analysis. Key areas of examination are both the context and the consequences of violence, as well as the social (i.e., “gendered”) context of the marriage. We also present an overview of the empirical background that underlies our work with violent couples seeking couple therapy. There is not one “violent couple”; rather, several distinct subgroups emerge based on frequency, severity, psychological impact, and injury. The subgroups include bidirectional/low-level violence, moderate/severe wife victimization, and a very small subgroup of couples where husbands report higher levels of victimization than their wives do, the moderate/high husband victimization subgroup. The treatment illustrated in this article applies primarily to the bidirectional/low violence subgroup.