There's a Stranger in This House

Abstract

Although more researchers are investigating violence in lesbian relationships, they continue to neglect the experiences of African American lesbians. The purpose of this article is to describe the experience of a battered African American lesbian and to offer suggestions for intervention, which include techniques for addressing homophobia, providing appropriate referrals, and culturally sensitive treatment.     

Example

No abstract available for this article.     

Sex Differences in Women's Mental Health Problems and Their Causes

No abstract available for this article.     

Using Celluloid to Break the Silence About Sexual Violence in the Black Community

Abstract

I am the producer, writer, and director of NO!, a feature length documentary that addresses intra-racial sexual assault in the Black community. Through this film, I hope to break the silence and give visual voice to a chorus of Black women rape survivors and Black women and men activists, historians, poets, attorneys, psychologists, and musicians. Their messages are conveyed through testimonies, scholarship, dance, music, and poetry.     

Female Mexican Immigrants in the United States: Cultural Knowledge and Healing

ABSTRACT

Mexican American immigrant women have faced many adversities historically, resulting in significant injuries to their physical and psychological selves. In attempts to heal from such injuries, these women have long engaged in self-healing through maintenance of their own cultural values, identities, and beliefs and also through working with, or even becoming, traditional healers. Such healing processes can be seen as a form of adjustment to a new culture, as well as a maintenance of native culture (Espin, 1996 Espin, O. M. (1996). Latina healers: Lives of power and tradition. Encino, CA: Floricanto Press. [Google Scholar]) and may take the form of a blending of cultures representing a “new indigeneity.” This article highlights such healing practices, including the role of cultural values and beliefs for healing, as well as current efforts to blend cultural healing practices within a framework of equality and respect.     

Women with Children in Violent Relationships

Summary

Custody issues for battered women means continuing involvement with a violent, abusive, intimidating partner. This article explores the continuing power and control dynamics of the domestic violence relationship after the woman with children leaves, and presents some preliminary findings. The custody of the children, visitation and financial arrangements often become the basis of terrorism as the man attempts to continue to control the woman's behavior with threats against the children. Fear of losing her children may force a woman to stay in a violent relationship, or return in spite of danger to her children and herself. On the other hand, the history of violence may make it difficult for the mother to cooperate with the court orders regarding joint custody or visitation even when safety appears not to be an issue. It is important for professionals working with children of violent families to understand the continuing effects of domestic violence after separation in order to provide assistance to children “caught in the middle” in custody disputes.     

Issues in Pastoral Care and Counseling for the Fourth Quarter of Life

Issues and risks for pastoral care and counseling from the perspective of old age (here, ages 75 to 100) include identification of old age as a problem and its association with death in a death-denying culture. Two elements are fundamental: existential experiential deficits between the old and their younger caregivers (e.g., age cohort experiences, health status, gender, culture, privilege, etc.); and boundary issues that push the old, and pastoral care, to the edge of experience, where choices must be made between creativity and negativity (e.g., moving to dependent living, disability, etc.). Loss of doing (versus being) as a viable option is a major edge experience. The resulting sense of emptiness carries with it the potential for a sacramental awareness in which absence of doing becomes an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.     

On advancing behavior analysis in the treatment and prevention of battering: Commentary on Myers

MYERS OFFERS AN IMPORTANT CHALLENGE TO BEHAVIOR ANALYSTS: eliminating the battering of women. In this commentary, we extend the conceptual model advocated by Myers, urge a bidirectional approach that focuses more on the battered woman and less on the battering man, caution against the indiscriminate use of marital therapy approaches, and argue that the most important contributions in the field may come from behavioral prevention rather than treatment interventions.     

Treatment of Depression in Disadvantaged Women

Low-income minority women are underrepresented in mental health service settings, yet they are clearly at risk for psychiatric disorders. We staff a clinic specialized in the treatment of depression in economically disadvantaged medical patients. We will share our experience treating disadvantaged and ethnic minority women and will discuss the ingredients necessary to provide quality therapy for these women. We will begin by discussing how poor and minority women access treatment, and the strategies we have used to keep these women in treatment. Then we will consider how services can be made sensitive to the special needs of disadvantaged women, including particular techniques we have found useful in their treatment. Finally, we will discuss common therapeutic issues for these women, as well as successful strategies for helping with the common issues.     

Seeking for Authentic Self in Community

Misconceptions about counseling, being anxious about losing face, not having enough resources, and losing the traditional therapeutic community which Koreans once had are the key reasons for the increase of mental problems among Koreans. The author explores the Korean mindset and thus is able to provide more effective and adequate counseling services for people from a Korean cultural background. This article emphasizes the importance of healing community in Korean culture and provides some practical suggestions for the psychological well-being of Koreans from a pastoral counseling perspective.     

Acculturation in Women with Mental Retardation and Its Impact on Genetic Counseling

The provision of genetic counseling to women with mild mental retardation poses many challenges, some directly related to their developmental and cognitive disabilities. Traditional genetic counseling models, in which decision-making is largely based on the understanding of factual information, are particularly affected by the intellectual limitations which characterize this population. Equally important, however, are these women's attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors related to their involuntary inclusion into a highly stigmatized social group. Common themes among these women which surface in the genetic counseling setting include the denial of mental retardation, a hierarchical perception of their own and others' disabilities, and a strong motivation to conceive and parent a child. Such attitudes and behaviors may be symptomatic of acculturation, as these women struggle to take on accepted social roles while rejecting the stigma of intellectual disability. In contrast to factual information, the counselee's ability to discuss emotions and perceptions is not necessarily hampered by her intellectual limitations. A focus on the recognition and discussion of psychosocial issues provides a more meaningful approach than traditional genetic counseling models for facilitating informed reproductive decisions among women with mental retardation.     

Coping with Intimate Partner Violence: Battered Women's Use and Perceived Helpfulness of Emotion-Focused Coping Strategies

This study investigated intimate partner violence (IPV) victims' emotion-focused coping efforts, as well as their retrospective ratings of the perceived helpfulness of these efforts, in the context of a longitudinal study of battered women's experiences over time. Four hundred and six primarily African American, low-income battered women who had experienced IPV within the previous 12 months were interviewed. Patterns of coping use and perceived helpfulness were explored. The correlation between prevalence of use of emotion-focused coping strategies and perceived helpfulness of these strategies was examined, and results showed that the strategies used by more battered women were less helpful in dealing with feelings about abuse. Implications for clinical interventions with battered women are discussed.     

PTSD,Posttraumatic Growth,and Coping Among Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Battered Women in Israel

This study examined the association between posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, posttraumatic growth (PTG), and coping styles in a very unique and difficult-to-access Jewish ultra-Orthodox population. The study was conducted with 88 women who spent time in the only shelter in Israel for battered women from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community; data were collected almost 6 years on average after they left the shelter. No association was found between PTS symptoms and PTG. In addition, coping style was not found to have an indirect effect on the relationship between these variables. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Whiteness in Latina Immigrants: A Venezuelan Perspective

This article examines the construct of Whiteness in Venezuela, which requires a framework that differs from the fixed racial categories commonly used in the United States. In Venezuela, where most citizens are of mixed race and where the concept of race is fluid, race and racism take on more complex forms that include dimensions such as social class, eye color, family, education, and even manners. This means that Whiteness and privilege do not always go hand in hand. I discuss ways in which this culturally defined notion of race can be incorporated into psychotherapy with Latina immigrants to the United States.     

Religious Activity and Pastoral Counseling Among Protestant Youth with SED

The past decade has shown a surge of interest in faith-based resources for a variety of social problems. However, these resources have not been systematically studied for children with emotional and behavioral problems. We investigated religious activity and use of pastoral counseling among Protestant youth with serious emotional disorders (SED) (N=464) and examined associated youth and caregiver characteristics. Findings indicate that the majority of SED youth do participate in religious activities, but do not frequently receive pastoral counseling for their problems. Youth with fewer externalizing problems as well as minority youth had an increased likelihood of participation in religious activities, while youth with more psychosocial impairment had an increased likelihood of using pastoral counseling. Implications of this study for research and practice are discussed.     

The Process Through Which an Advocacy Intervention Resulted in Positive Change for Battered Women Over Time

A prior experimental evaluation of a community-based advocacy program for women with abusive partners demonstrated positive change in the lives of women even 2 years postintervention (C. M. Sullivan & D. I. Bybee, 1999). The current study explored the complex mediational process through which this change occurred, using longitudinal structural equation modeling and formal tests of mediation. As hypothesized, the advocacy intervention first resulted in women successfully obtaining desired community resources and increasing their social support, which enhanced their overall quality of life. This improvement in well-being appeared to serve as a protective factor from subsequent abuse, as women who received the intervention were significantly less likely to be abused at 2-year follow-up compared with women in the control condition. Increased quality of life completely mediated the impact of the advocacy intervention on later reabuse. Discussion places advocacy for women in the context of other efforts that are needed to build an effective community response to preventing intimate violence against women.     

Social Workers and Battered Women: The Need to Study Client Violence in the Domestic Violence Field

Domestic violence is a significant issue for the United States and internationally. Although many social workers may desire to work in the domestic violence field, such work is far more difficult and challenging than many social workers would expect. In fact, many domestic violence workers are abused by their clients or their clients' family members in the course of their work. The purpose of this article is to clarify why examining client violence toward workers in the domestic violence field is critically important, describe the current state of the research, and discuss recommendations for future research in this area.     

Safety Planning Based on Lethality Assessment for Partners of Batterers in Intervention Programs

Summary

This chapter outlines a process of individualized safety planning with the partners of batterers in intervention programs that is based on the principles of empowerment and autonomy, and takes into account the context of the woman's situation. Assessing context is operationalized as considering the potential lethality of the situation from her partner, her relationship and emotional status, available resources, and her children. The safety planning process is described as an opportunity for the abused woman to gain information in order to strategize her responses. It is also a way for the program staff to gain more accurate information about the batterer's level of violence and dan-gerousness, and to work with women to enhance retention of abusers in the program.