Backgroand and purpose: To describe the characteristics of couples within a psychiatric center for whom marital violence against women occurs, and to propose a treatment model. Methods: To compare the characteristics of couples from the Out Patients Department (OPD) (n=9) with couples from psychiatric wards (n=17), and to evaluate their motivation for dealing with relational problems after sessions of therapeutic interviews. Results: There were fourteen couples (53.8%) that had never sought help from the domestic violence social support systems previously, and eight couples (30.8%) that reported domestic violence to formal social support systems for the first time. The characteristics of couples from the wards were lower levels of education, more cases of unemployment, psychiatric diagnosis and attending psychiatric department involuntarily. In contrast, 77.8% of OPD cases attended voluntarily for relational problems. The motivation for dealing with their own relational problems was increased in 58.8% of cases from the wards and 67.8% of cases from the OPD after sessions of therapeutic interviews. Conclusion: It is suggested that psychiatric practice would facilitate the huge task of detection and management of marital violence. In this article an intervention model emphasizing motivation and growth, through dealing with intimate relationships with partners, is proposed.