Towards a systems-based psychotherapeutic treatment programme for counsellors of abused women

Abstract

A critique of pertinent literature reveals that the majority of theoretical understandings and modes of intervention in the arena of spouse abuse are limited by their adherence to a linear epistemology. It is contended that when intervention efforts are framed solely in linear terms, the abusive couple is perceived within a dichotomous logic of attribution, thereby engendering solutions of dismemberment. It is suggested that an ecosystemic perspective, which is grounded in cybernetics, ecology and systems theory, can offer a means of overcoming the limitations that currently plague helping institutions. Such a perspective expands intervention options as the helper, the helping system(s), the client and the context of the client's problems are viewed as interrelated rather than distinct systems. Some of the interlinked variables which need to be considered when planning an ecosystemic programme for spouse abuse are also presented.