Bevegelser mot ansvar: endrings­skapende dialoger i to terapier med menn som utøver vold i nære relasjoner [Opening up for responsibility: Co-creating change in two therapies with men who use violence against their intimate partner

Abstract

There is a paucity of knowledge on psychotherapy aiming to help clients stop engaging in intimate partner violence (IPV). The purpose of this study is to enrich our understanding of the processes of violence-focused therapy by developing rich and clinically relevant descriptions that can inform and inspire other therapists. Using constructivist grounded theory, we shed light on how clients and therapist co-create change. The main finding of this study is that clients use language that can be understood as opening up toward or moving away from recognizing and experiencing responsibility. This can even occur within the same utterance. We describe how therapists meet these ways of speaking and how this interaction unfolds in sequences of dialogue. Use of language is an important gateway to change because it can both reflect and create clients’ experience of agency in their life. The findings can be useful for clinicians working with this and other client groups. It can also aid in further research on violence-focused therapy. Clinical implications are discussed.