Question

Discuss signs and symptoms of IPV and treatment approaches.

Answer 1

IPV or Intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence is also known as domestic violence. Domestic violence can include forced sex, physical abuse, and emotional abuse, such as cruel words or threats. It can happen between married people, to a couple who lives together or apart, or to a same-sex couple.

Signs and symptoms

If the partner shows following signs then IPV is there

• Controls what is being done
• Checks phone, email, or social networks without permission
• Forces to have sex when the other partner does not want to
• Controls birth control or insists to get pregnant
• Decides the other partner wear or eat or how he/she spends money
• Prevents or discourages from going to work or school or seeing family or friends
• Humiliates on purpose in front of others
• Unfairly accuses of being unfaithful
• Destroys things
• Threatens to hurt the partner, children, other loved ones, or pets
• Hurts physically (e.g., hitting, beating, punching, pushing, kicking), including with a weapon
• Blames for his or her violent outbursts
• Threatens to hurt herself or himself because of being upset with you
• Threatens to report to the authorities for imagined crimes
• Says things like, “If I can’t have you, then no one can”

Signs of domestic violence or abuse in same-sex relationships

If one is in a same-sex relationship many signs of domestic violence are the same as other people in an abusive relationship. The other partner may hit , control or force the other partner to have sex.Some additional signs of abuse are:-

• Threatening to “out you” to your family, friends, employer, or community
• Telling that he/she have to be legally married to be considered a victim of domestic violence and to get help
• Saying women aren’t or can’t be violent
• Telling that the authorities won’t help a lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or other nonconforming person
• Forcing to “prove” sexuality by performing sex that the other partner does not consent to.

Symptoms

Long-term conditions that are associated with IPV include chronic pain, neurologic disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, migraine headaches, and other physical disabilities, as well as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and suicide

IPV and treatment approaches.

The first proposed reason is that the focus of most interventions has been to protect women from violence (e.g., helping women to obtain restraining orders, offering housing in a domestic violence shelter).

The second one is the difficulty in creating a professional dialogue among women in abusive relationships that is anything other than survivor oriented.

The third one is the widely held myth that IPV always involves severe physical violence and that it is only male perpetrated

Despite the lack of literature, several researchers and clinicians have started studies to understand, assess and treat IPV cases. They have identified a number of etiologic models to explain the phenomenon, and to highlight the risk factors that can predict their occurrence and to support the development of future IPV treatments.

Intervention

Psychosocial counseling for IPV perpetrators is widely available in many countries.These pregrammes are often labeled batterer intervention programs (BIPs), Mostly these programms serve court-mandated populations and are focused on men who have assaulted women. Although a range of program philosophies and practices exist programs for perpetrators of IPV tend to advocate an open admissions group modality and can last from 8 to 52 weeks.

There are 2 common types of BIPs.

The first assumes a gender-themed root cause of IPV like the patriarchal nature of societal and institutional structures reward male domination and justify any means (including physical aggression) that reinforce male power, control, and privilege.eg. The Duluth Abuse Intervention Project model aims to prevent IPV via largely psychoeducational reprogramming of (male) offenders. This model focuses on exposing patriarchal/misogynistic attitudes, encourages accountability and personal responsibility, and promotes gender-egalitarian behaviors.

A second BIP model uses cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). This model aims to change behavior through a therapeutic relationship, exposure and disputation of distorted cognitions, and various problem-solving and mood-regulating techniques. Couples-based CBT that focuses on enhancing communication and problem-solving skills between partners are done.

Alternative strategies

These include medication therapy, comprehensive mental health case management, integrated treatment for substance use problems and IPV, culturally specific interventions, trauma-informed therapies, and interventions targeting motivation to change.The focus of several interventions is on motivation and readiness to change, areas of considerable challenge in working with IPV perpetrators (who are often forced by courts or partners to seek treatment). Brief motivational interview, a supportive and highly empathic counseling style ,has been shown to enhance positive treat-ment engagement and compliance with behavior change recommendations. Group approaches designed to help clients move through the stages of intentional behavior change have increased treatment adherence for highly resistant IPV offenders in one study and produced lower posttreatment violence relative to standard BIP services in another.

Structured screening for IPV in mental health practice may be warranted for all cases but is particularly indicated for individuals with substance use problems, antisocial behavior, anger problems, a history of head injury, notable impulsivity, or emotion dysregulation.

Strategies that focus on motivation and readiness to change appear to have added value in engaging IPV perpetrators into treatment and enhancing participation in behavior change interventions. Motivational interviewing uses a high level of empathic reflection and gentle guidance to evoke individuals’ articulation of motivation and commitment to change.

Effective treatment for substance use problems can have a substantial benefit in reducing IPV. Integrated approaches that teach relationship skills or involve partners in dyadic relationship enhancement may have added benefit for substance-abusing populations.