ABSTRACT
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for mandated domestic violence offenders dominates the criminal justice response in England and Wales, despite there being little evidence that such treatment ‘works’. Akin to feminist victimology, CBT assumes men’s violence towards women is both rational and instrumental with treatment focusing on teaching men techniques to control their violence, or face the consequences if they don’t. The proposition that domestic abuse can be explained and treated as a simplistic rational calculation of rewards and costs is challenged. It is proposed that there are other intangible forces at play when thinking about men’s accounts of violence and denial which cannot be understood within a narrow cognitive framework. By re-conceptualizing denial and motivation as psychologically defensive, one can begin to uncover the complex and contradictory layers that lie underneath. Psychodynamic models of psychotherapy in the UK pose an alternative to the ‘quick cure’ that CBT purports to provide by helping men to understand the meaning and purpose of their violence. This chapter will be the first in a series of communications challenging policymakers and practitioners alike to consider interventions and evaluation methods that match the complexity of domestic abuse perpetration at the individual and societal level.
