Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy最新文献

Few topics generate as much controversy and confusion in society, therapeutic practice, and science as violence in families, often referred to as domestic violence. There is a neverending dispute around the definition and about the statistics. Is relational violence mainly against women or are women as violent as men in intimate relationships? Outcomes from research are contradictory. When we zoom out, we can be aware that violence is everywhere and that we are part of it. At the same time, we can sense that the world is full of love. Both are part of the destructive dynamics of escalating conflicts in families that are more related to powerlessness than to power. In a therapeutic context we focus on the destructive dynamics in which the languages of perpetrator and victim are not helpful. We suggest the formulation of keystones as light posts to help us find a way to help family members to de-escalate conflict.

Intimate partner violence is a major problem in Australia, impacting many families that are on the cusp of disruption and intervention by the child protection system. Using an innovative method of inquiry, the article explores the role of dedicated men's workers in a South Australian non-government organisation's intensive family service that works towards keeping families safe and together. The dedicated men's worker positions are integrated into a multidisciplinary model that works with fathers who have been a part of situational violence within the family. The men's workers' (and co-authors') reflections offer insight into systemic barriers, practical therapeutic interventions, engagement work with fathers, how this is approached, and the various outcomes experienced. Blending auto-ethnography reflections, elements of rapid ethnographic assessment, and the use of rigorous and accelerated data reduction, we demonstrate the need for increased supports for some fathers. These should include therapeutic engagement and working with the underlying trauma of fathers to ensure the whole family is supported and offered opportunity for healing and sustainable preservation. We also consider the more encompassing lifeworlds of the men and the need to drive and support broader sociocultural shifts.

Men's behaviour change programs (MBCPs) are group programs for men using family violence. This preliminary evaluation examines participants' and facilitators' perceptions of a redeveloped MBCP. Participants reported significant improvements in their ability to manage stress, understand the impact of their use of violence, and apply skills to repair the impact of their use of violence. Facilitators reported that peer support was an important component contributing to changes in the participants' knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and behaviours. Preliminary findings indicate that the program could potentially influence men's perceptions of family violence and consequently promote the safety and wellbeing of women and children.

Eating disorders (EDs) are associated with significant psychiatric and medical morbidity and carry unique challenges for treatment providers. An ED can become powerful to the point that it controls every aspect of the individual, and these patterns of control can be seen as similar to interactions observed within an intimate partner violence (IPV) relationship. This paper examines the literature on EDs and IPV and attempts to answer two research questions: (1) Does the ED–narrative self relationship share similarities to the victim–perpetrator relationship in IPV relationships? (2) Do individuals living with an ED report themes related to IPV in their discussion of the recovery process? Utilising a phenomenological analysis, online data from individuals living with an ED are analysed. The researchers find three themes and 10 subthemes that reveal similarities between EDs and the narrative self and the perpetrator and victim in IPV relationships. Clinical implications and future research recommendations are discussed.

This study explores an abusive wife's symptoms and risk factors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in a heterosexual relationship. A qualitative approach, using a conceptual cluster network, was used to analyse the family therapy case of a wife abusing her husband. Findings indicate that the wife's IPV-related symptoms included victim mentality, despair, depression, insomnia, aggression, and the desire to divorce the husband. The wife's risk factors were present at the personal, family-relational, and sociocultural levels. This study indicates that therapists counselling violent Korean couples may explore couples' communication styles, undifferentiation of self, transference, the culture of filial piety, and the influence of Confucian culture.

The paper presents a model of care focusing on family emotions in the treatment of adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is illustrated by a case study. It is concluded that augmenting current treatments by targeting family emotions may enhance adolescent outcomes and improve family functioning. The model is illustrated by a case study, and further systematic research with a larger sample size is recommended.

With a focus on ‘screen and team’ family therapy, we tentatively explore possible practice implications associated with family therapy moving from in-person to online delivery, with the intention of developing questions for further empirical research. By examining some of the affordances and constraints of the online medium in relation to the use of triadic questioning, we set forth a number of the epistemological and ontological consequences of this move. We argue that online therapy has particular features of a dialogical approach and method. We then examine the concept of joint action, the nature of the conversational processes, and the utterance chains that seem to be more likely to emerge when working online. We posit that a major advantage of the move to online delivery of family therapy is the medium’s particular utility for generating more invitational, collaborative, and dialogical practices.