ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the possibility of engaging partners in therapy in order to enhance its effectiveness and speed. In most cases, the woman, categorized as victim, is the one who starts talking, either willingly or because a therapist asks the right questions. The partner can come into the picture when the woman is stimulated to report to the police, and this can lead to obligatory therapy programmes for batterers. The problem is that research shows that batterer treatment programmes have very little effect and high recidivist outcomes. When one partner is terrorizing, controlling, intimidating, and isolating the other, couple therapy is not the first choice of action. Safety for the threatened partner must be provided first. One of the key abilities of every therapist is the ability to motivate the client to bring the partner or important others to the interview. With the issue on violence come additional barriers to motivating the partner to partake in therapy.
