Treatment for Partner Abuse: Time for a Paradigm Shift.

The standard approach of arresting abusers and mandating their participation in short-term group treatment produces mixed results at best. Six problematic assumptions compromise the outcome of this I-size-fits-all intervention. A review of these assumptions suggests the need for a paradigmatic shift toward the need to identify abusers who can and cannot be helped. For those amenable to treatment, intervention should include the assessment of both partners and their interaction as well as the provision of individualized, 4-step multidimensional services for both abusers and their victims. Activism, research, and skill-building are all required to promote the vitally needed changes. Partner abuse is a major worldwide problem: Between 10% and 50% of all women report having been abused by their intimate partners sometime during their lives (World Health Organization, 2001). In the United States, partner abuse is reported each year by more than 1.5 million women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998) and 800,000 men (Gondolf & Jones, 2002). There are doubtless many other instances of abuse that are not reported to police, health care workers. or even epidemiological researchers. Victimization may be kept secret because of embarrassment, fear of retaliation, the wish to avoid legal intrusions in their lives, or the belief that it is universal and unavoidable. When abuse is revealed, mental health professionals generally offer the standard, but somewhat flawed, approach to intervention known as the Duluth model (Pence & Paymar, 1993). The major limitations of this approach are discussed as a preface to the presentation of a four-step alternative model that is more in keeping with the basic tenets of sound psychological practice.