ABSTRACT
For several decades, domestic violence, otherwise known as Partner Abuse (PA) has been recognised as a major public health issue in the United States, and more recently in Europe and the rest of the world. This chapter addresses issues of relevance to treatment, and in doing so presents an evidence-based model of treatment, based on the latest social science research and the author's 25 years of clinical experience. In the United States, perpetrator treatment guidelines and standards for court-ordered offenders are set by the various states, based not on the body of empirical social science research but rather on recommendations from battered women's advocates, and steeped in sociopolitical theories of gender roles and patriarchy. Court-mandated rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators, a major component of this response, have been only marginally effective in reducing recidivism rates, largely due to the politicisation of the issue.
