Intimate partner abuse cases usually center on providing services to mothers and their children. This article discusses a paradigm shift—a father—son dyad is presented—illustrating how intimate partner abuse affects their relationship. Attachment, social learning, fatherhood, masculinity, and complex trauma theories are used to ground the case. Boss’s paradigm of ambiguous loss is used to conceptualize, assess, and describe the course of treatment. Finally, recommendations to clinicians are discussed.
Aymer, S.R. ( 2008). Adolescent Males’ coping responses to domestic violence: A qualitative study. Children & Youth Services Review, 30, 654-664.
2.
Bandura, A. ( 1973). Aggression: A social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
3.
Blos, P. ( 1962). On adolescence: A psychoanalytic theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.
4.
Blos, P. ( 1984). Son and father. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 32, 301-324.
5.
Boss, P. ( 2006). Loss, trauma, and resilience: Therapeutic work with ambiguous loss. New York: Norton.
6.
Bowlby, J. ( 1983). Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 30, 556-664.
7.
Bowlby, J. ( 1988). A secure base: Parent child attachment and healthy human development. New York: Basic Books .
8.
Boyd-Franklin, N. ( 2003). Black families in therapy: Understanding the African American experience. (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.
9.
Boyd-Franklin, N., Franklin, A.J., & Toussaint, P. ( 2000). Boys into men: Raising our African American teenage sons . New York: Penguin.
10.
Brannen, J., & Nilsen, A. ( 2006). From fatherhood to fathering: Transmission and change among British fathers in four generation families, Sociology , 40, 335-352.
11.
Buchbinder, E., & Eisikovits, Z. (2008). Doing treatment: Batterers’ experience of intervention. Children & Youth Services Review, 30, 616-630.
12.
Carmen, E.H., Reiker, P.P., & Mills, T. ( 1984). Victims of violence and psychiatric illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 378-379.
13.
Colin, J.M. ( 2001). Voices of hope: Hearing and caring for Haitian adolescents . Journal of Holistic Nursing, 19, 187-211.
14.
Cook, A., Spinnazzola, J., Ford, J., Lankree, C., Blaustein, M., Cloitre, M., et al. (2005). Complex trauma in children and adolescents . Psychiatric Annals, 35, 390-398.
15.
Cosby, B., & Poussaint, A.F. (2007). Come on, people: On the path from victims to victors. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
16.
Cummings, E.M. ( 1998). Children exposed to marital conflict and violence: Conceptual and theoretical directions. In G. W. Holden , R. Geffner, & E. R. Jouriles (Eds.), Children exposed to marital violence (pp.55-93). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
17.
Davies, P.T., & Cummings, E.M. (1994). Marital conflict and child adjustment: An emotional security hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 387-411.
18.
Davila, J., & Levy, K.N. ( 2006). Introduction to the special section on attachment theory and psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology , 74, 989-993.
19.
Davis, D. ( 1991). Intervention with male toddlers who have witnessed parental violence. Families in Society, 72, 515-524.
20.
Dick, G.L., & Bronson, D. ( 2005). Adult men’s self-esteem: The relationship with the father. Families in Society, 86, 580-588.
21.
Dutton, D.G., & Golant, S.K. ( 1995). The batterer: A psychological profile. New York: Basic Books.
22.
Dutton, D.G., & Painter, S. ( 1993). Emotional attachments in abusive relationships: Effects of severity and intermittent of abuse. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63, 614-622.
23.
Ehrensaft, M.K., Cohen, P., & Brown, P. ( 2003). Intergenerational transmission of partner violence: A 20-year prospective study. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 71, 741-753.
24.
Gartner, R.B. ( 1999). Betrayed as boys: Psychodynamic treatment of sexually abused men. New York: Guilford.
25.
Goldstein, E.G. ( 1995). Ego psychology and social work practice (2nd ed.). New York: Free Press.
26.
Good, G.E., Thomson, D.A., & Brathwaite, A.D. (2005). Men and therapy: Critical concepts, theoretical frameworks and research recommendations. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61, 699-711.
27.
Graham-Berman, S. ( 1998). The impact of woman abuse on children social development: Research and theoretical perspectives. In G. Holden, R. Geffner, & E. Jouriles (Eds.), Children exposed to marital violence: Theory, research, and applied issues (pp. 21-54). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
28.
Greene, R. ( 2002). Resiliency: An integrated approach to practice, policy and research. Washington, DC: NASW Press.
29.
Guille, L. ( 2004). Men who batter and their children: An integrated review . Aggression & Violent Behavior, 6, 129-163.
30.
Herman, J. ( 1992). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence-from domestic violence abuse to political terror. New York: Basic books.
31.
Hughes, F.M., Stuart, G.L., Coop-Gordon, K., & Moore, T.M. ( 2007). Predicting the use of aggression conflict tactics in a sample of women arrested for domestic violence. Journal of Social & Personal Relationships, 24, 155-176.
32.
Hunter, A.C., Friend, C.A., Murphy, S.Y., Rollins, A., Wheeler, W.M., & Laughinghouse, J. (2006). Loss, survival, and redemption: African American male youth’s manhood and coding of age. Youth & Society, 37, 423-452.
33.
Jaffe, P., Wolfe, D., Wilson, S., & Zak, D. ( 1990). Children of battered women. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
34.
Jenkins, E.J., & Bell, C.C. ( 1997). Exposure and response to community violence among children and adolescents. In J. D. Osofsky (Ed.), Children in a violent society (pp. 9-31). New York: Guilford.
35.
Kinniburgh, K.J., Blaustein, M., & Spinazzola, J. (2005). Attachment, self-regulation, and competency. Psychiatric Annals, 35, 424-430.
36.
Kohut, H. ( 1977). The restoration of the self. New York : International University Press.
37.
Long, N. ( 1997). Editorial: Are we contributing to the devaluation of fathers?Clinical Child Psychological & Psychiatry, 2, 197-199.
38.
Marks, C.R., Glaser, B.A., Glass, J.B., & Horne, A.M. ( 2001). Effects of witnessing severe marital discord on children’s social competence and behavioral problems. Family Journal , 9, 94-101.
Mills, L.G. ( 2008). Shane and intimate abuse: The critical missing link between cause and cure. Children & Youth Services Review, 30, 631-638.
41.
Pelcovitz, D., Kaplan, S., DeRosa, R., Mandel, F., & Salzinger, S. ( 2000). Psychiatric disorders in adolescents exposed to violence and abuse. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70, 360-369.
42.
Rose, J., & Urschel, J. ( 2006). Understanding the complexity of love in Brokeback Mountain: An analysis of the film and short story. Journal of Men’s Study, 14, 247-251.
43.
Rosenbaum, A., & O’Leary, K.D. (1981). Children: The unintended victims of marital violence. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry , 51, 629-699.
44.
Roy, K.M. ( 2006). Father stories: A life course examination of paternal identity among low income AfricanAmerican men. Journal of Family Studies, 27, 31-54.
45.
Saleebey, D. ( 2006). The strengths perspectives in social work practice (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson .
46.
Spencer, G.M., Fegley, S., Harpalani, V., & Seaton, G. ( 2004). Understanding hypermasculinity context: A theory driven-analysis of urban adolescent males’ coping response. Research in Human Development, 4, 229-257.
47.
Sternberg, K.J., Lamb, M.E., Guterman, E., Abbott, C.R., & Dawud-Noursi, S. (2005). Child Abuse & Neglect , 29, 853-869.
48.
Sutherland, J.D. ( 1994). The autonomous self. Northvale, NJ : Jason Aronson.
49.
van der Kolk, B.A. ( 2005). Developmental trauma disorder. Psychiatric Annals, 35, 401-408.
50.
Von Steen, P.G. ( 1997). Adults with witnessing histories: The overlooked victims of domestic violence. Psychotherapy, 34, 478-484.
51.
Wineburgh, A.L. ( 2000). Treatment of children with absent fathers. Children & Adolescent Social Work, 4, 255-273.
52.
Winnicott, D.W. ( 1988). Human nature. New York: Schocken.
53.
Wolf, K.A., & Foshee, V.A. ( 2003). Family violence, anger expression styles, and adolescent dating violence. Journal of Family Violence, 18, 309-316.
