Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Splitting and Emotional Regulation in Partner Violence

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Clinical Social Work Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Interventions with victims of partner violence can become stymied until the clinician recognizes and accepts client vacillations as integral to the work. Appraisals and decisions that are reached in a therapy session may appear to be reversed or forgotten once the client returns home. Treatment strategies that focus on emotional regulation and splitting can help strengthen client awareness of contradicting beliefs, thereby strengthening self-efficacy and problem-solving.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, C. M. (2006). The consequences of witnessing family violence on children and implications for family counselors. The Family Journal, 14(4), 334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bensley, L., Eenwyk, J. V., & Simmons, K. W. (2003). Childhood family violence history and women’s risk for intimate partner violence and poor health. American Journal Preventive Medicine, 25(1), 38–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J., & Spinazzola, J. (2005). Phenomenology and psychological assessment of complex posttraumatic states. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18(5), 401–412.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caffo, E., & Belaise, C. (2003). Psychological aspects of traumatic injury in children and adolescents. Child Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 12, 493–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coid, J., Petruckevitch, A., Feder, G., & Chung, W. S. (2001). Relation between childhood sexual and physical abuse and risk of revictimisation in women: A cross-sectional survey. Lancet, 368, 450–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, J. M., & Frawley, M. G. (1994). Treating the adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse: A psychoanalytic perspective. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Rosa, R. R., & Pelkovitz, D. (2008). Treating traumatized adolescent mothers, a structured approach. In N. B. Webb (Ed.), Working with traumatized youth in child welfare (pp. 219–245). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Zulueta, F. (2006). The treatment of psychological trauma from the perspective of attachment research. Journal of Family Therapy, 28(4), 334–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forero, R. (2005). Why do they return?: Psychological determinants of the battered woman’s decision to return to the batterer. New York Univeristy Dissertation Publication Number 3159083 (ISBN #9780496924). UMI Company, Ann Arbor, MI.

  • Freud, S. (1940). Splitting of the ego in the process of defence. (Standard Edition, Vol. 23, pp. 271–278). London: Hogarth Press, 1964.

  • Goldner, V. (2004). When love hurts: Treating abusive relationships. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 24(3), 346–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldner, V., Penn, P., Sheinberg, M., & Walker, G. (1990). Love and violence; gender paradoxes in volatile attachments. Family Process, 29(4), 343–364.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heim, C., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2001). The role of childhood trauma in the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders: Preclinical and clinical studies. Biological Psychiatry, 49, 1023–1039.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Katehakis, A. (2009). Affective neuroscience and the treatment of sexual addiction. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 16, 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinniburgh, K., Blaustein, M., & Spinazzola, J. (2005). Attachment, self-regulation and competency: A comprehensive intervention framework for children with complex trauma. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 424–430.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krystal, H. (1988). Integration & self healing: Affect, trauma, alexithymia. Hillsdale NJ: The Analytic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lax, R. (1986). Self and object constancy. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M.d., & Todd, R. M. (2005). Getting emotional: A neural perspective on emotion, intention and consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12, 210–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead, H. K., Beauchaine, T. P., & Shannon, K. E. (2010). Neurobiological adaptations to violence across development. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 1–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meissner, W. W. (1986). The earliest internalizations. In R. Lax & S. Bach (Eds.), Self and object constancy (pp. 29–72). New York: Guilford Press.

  • Najavits, L. M. (2002). Seeking safety: A treatment manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse. New York, NY: The Guildford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robins, C. J., & Chapman, A. L. (2004). Dialectical behavior therapy: Current status, recent developments and future directions. Journal of Personality Disorders, 18(1), 73–89.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schore, A. N. (2002). Dysregulation of the right brain: A fundamental mechanism of traumatic attachment and the psychopathogenesis of posttraumatic stress disorder. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36, 9–30.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schore, Allan. N. (2003). Affect dysregulation and disorders of the self. Boston: W. W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, J. P. (2006). Dyadic splitting in partner relational disorders. Journal of Family Psychology, 20(3), 418–422.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, J. P. (2007). The role of affect regulation in a case of attempted maternal-filicide suicide: Commentary on an act of despair. Clinical Social Work Journal, 35(4), 223–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, J. P. (2008). Splitting as a focus of couples therapy. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 38(3), 161–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, J. P. (2010). Stop overreacting: Effective strategies for calming your emotions. California: New Harbinger Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sneed, J. R., Balestri, M., & Belfi, B. J. (2003). The use of dialectical behavior therapy strategies in the psychiatric emergency room. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice Training, 40(4), 265–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Twardosz, S., & Lutzker, J. R. (2010). Child maltreatment and the developing brain: A review of neuroscience perspectives. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15, 59–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Kolk, B. (1994). Childhood abuse and neglect and loss of self-regulation. Bulletin Menninger Clinic, 58, 145–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermilyea, E. G. (2000). Growing beyond survival: A self-help toolkit for managing traumatic stress. Baltimore, Maryland: The Sidran Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volkan, V. (1976). Primitive internalized object relations. New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yates, T. M. (2007). The developmental consequences of child emotional abuse: A neurodevelopmental perspective. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 7(2), 9–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Judith P. Siegel.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Siegel, J.P., Forero, R.M. Splitting and Emotional Regulation in Partner Violence. Clin Soc Work J 40, 224–230 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-011-0352-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-011-0352-3

Keywords

Navigation