Emotional Intelligence | Depression | Emotional Abuse
This is a copy of an article about couples counseling when one of the partners is abusive. It was written for aduts who are currently in an abusive relationship. Though it does not mention depression, it is likely that a person in an abusive relationship will feel depressed since they feel powereless and they lack emotional support from their partner.
Why Couples Counseling in Abusive Relationships Doesnt Work Several people have asked about this and wed like to address it in case any one of them - or anyone is ever faced with this or knows anyone who is faced with it: If you are in any type of intimate relationship where there is abuse: verbal, emotional, psychological (ie: gaslighting, crazymaking), sexual, or physical and the abuser suggests couples or partners counseling as a means to try to work things out or as an ultimatum to stay in the relationship - DONT fall for it. Couples counseling does NOT work where there is abuse in a relationship because it does not address the issue. Get your own individual, separate counseling to help deal with the abuse. If there is abuse, then abuse is the ONLY issue not communication problems or any other type of mutual interaction problem, so couples counseling will not address this situation properly and may in fact make it worse. I had someone suggest this in a prior abusive relationship and soon realized that the reason he wanted couples counseling was ONLY because he wanted the counselor to FIX ME. In his opinion, nothing was wrong with HIM. He felt (and stated) that he was blameless, not responsible for his abusive behavior, flawless and I was the one who was messed up and who had caused all or most of the issues in the relationship. He denied and minimized his abuse. Many abusers are very narcissistic in this way, viewing themselves as special, above reproach, incapable of making mistakes, and flawless - regardless what theyve done or said to their partner. They think they should bear no responsibility for their behavior, or for how it affects others. A complete lack of empathy for their partner is usually very marked. In my situation, the counselor was fairly well-versed in abusive relationships and saw through this. I had spoken with her about this alone prior to signup. This is a good thing to check ahead of time - ask them directly if they are experienced with counseling people in abusive relationships, and if theyre familiar with the tactics of abusive partners. She soon began confronting him with some of his abuse and lo and behold, he railed and bailed. He minimized, blamed, denied - even blamed the counselor for twisting things around when actually she was UNTWISTING things. She was trying to get beyond his minimization, avoidance, projection, and denial about his abusive behavior to get to what was really behind it (anger and resentment, among other things and whatever was behind that). Having been confronted and not wanting to take responsibility or face himself, he ended it right then and there (which I fully expected having researched this - but it still hurt a lot at the time). Most abusers would rather end a relationship - no matter what the situation is - than take responsibility for their abusive behavior once confronted with it. Its rare that they ever do anything to change, or look at themselves as being whatsoever at fault in driving their relationships to destruction. The problem is, an abusive person will only look at THEIR feelings and SOMEONE ELSES behavior instead of looking at SOMEONE ELSES feelings and THEIR behavior (as Lundy Bancroft describes in the excerpt below). When confronted, one of two things will usually happen: They will escalate their abuse - or they will end it - claiming that their partner(s) are being unreasonable, too sensitive or twisting things around. They will claim THEMSELVES to be the victim. The abusive person will claim that *other* people are trying to make them walk on eggshells (projection) if theyre asked to recognize or respect anyone elses feelings or needs. But, it is actually the abuser who chronically causes others to feel that way - with their constant criticism, name-calling, insults, condescension, humiliation, and blame. No one in their relationship(s) can do anything right in their eyes except them, and others will often try to modify their behavior in order to try to avoid the abusers constant devaluation and criticism. This is an exercise in futility, however. Walking on eggshells is how an abuser often describes any request to recognize or respect someone elses feelings besides his/her own. (ie: Im not going to walk on eggshells around you!) For most people who posses the ability to empathize normally, empathy isnt an issue. For an abuser, its a lot of work because its not something theyre used to having to do and its a skill they arent much interested in. When their partners express hurt because of the abusers behavior, the abuser will claim the partner is just oversensitive. The fact is, the abuser is the one who needs to develop some sensitivity. As I stated earlier, this is very narcissistic behavior. Abusers are often narcissists or sociopaths or simply have very strong narcissistic or sociopathic tendencies, primarily marked by a complete lack of empathy towards their partners (beyond the initial romance stage), or at least a marked inability or unwillingness to recognize or respect anyones feelings or needs other than their own. And this goes far beyond any communication problem or incompatibility issue. The issue - is the abuse. When abusive people go to couples therapy they simply learn to be more skilled abusers and many of them are quite skilled to begin with. Most are highly intelligent. My own ex was a member of Mensa, in fact. Couples therapy often will only reinforce abusive behavior and they become even more slick and condescending and manipulative with their tactics. Thats because couples therapy typically deals with abuse as if it were a mutual or communications issue - and it isnt. Below is a GREAT write-up by Lundy Bancroft (author of Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men) about why couples counseling does NOT work in abusive relationships - and my own experience bears this out. *An abuser should go into a specialized abuser program and the target / victim should seek his/her own separate counseling. *Ill warn that most abusers wont stoop to such a thing - it would mean they have to admit they have personality problems/faults that have destroyed many of their relationships, and theyd have to be willing to undergo YEARS of tough self-evaluation and work to change and chances of that are slim to none. Its much easier for them to just find another target for their abuse. -- |