Description
Book SynopsisOffering a compassionate view of the interior life of the batterer, this book explains the inner mechanisms of the batterer's violent behavior, analyzes society's negative depictions of abuse as well as general ideas concerning victims, and proposes alternative views. Finally the book addresses treatment methodologies that will result in permanent change.
Trade ReviewIn a scholarly and clinically astute work Joseph Scalia has integrated a wide range of clinical and developmental theories that demythologizes and humanizes a psychoanalytic pariah, the batterer. In a clearly written style Scalia provides firm and valuable guidelines for treatment laced with substantial clinical vignettes. Intimate Violence is essential reading for every clinician who works with batterers and their victims." -- Robert J. Marshall, Ph.D. Joseph Scalia's work Intimate Violence: Attacks Upon Psychic Interiority offers an in-depth exploration of the psychological complexity behind domestic violence... Scalia's work presents an important and interesting arguement. Criminal Justice Review [Scalia's] approach is an eye-opener. The author has what seems the rare ability to get beyond the revulsion and disgust these patients would arouse in most therapists. He is able to reach patients at a primitive, emotional level and can effectively combat the powerful impulse to back away. Reading the author's clinical material enables one to see the humanity that even batterers possess. -- Neil Wilson Journal of Psychohistory
Table of ContentsPart 1. Understanding the Batterer 1. Affect Regulation and Narcissistic Equilibrium 2. The Experience of Self and Other 3. Identification with the Aggressor Part 2. The Politics of the Batterer-Treatment Movement 4. Political Versus Clinical Determination of Abuse and Other Associations 5. Our Unwitting Persecution of the Batterer and Other Facile Conveniences Part 3. Treatment 6. Countertransference 7. Transference 8. Joining Techniques 9. Working Through: A Synthesis
