"Dreaming Undreamt Dreams" in Psychological Counseling with Italian Women Who Experienced Intimate Partner Violence: A Phenomenological-Interpretative Analysis of the Psychologists' Experience.

Giorgia Margherita,Gina Troisi,Maria Ilaria Incitti

doi:10.3390/ijerph17176286

Abstract

In psychological consultations with women who survive Intimate Partner Violence, it is essential to work on elaboration of the trauma as a complex trauma within the context of a relationship. We consider dreams to be a symbolic-representative process, which requires the right psychic, relational and contextual conditions to occur, and that is hindered when trauma is present. The objective of the present study is to investigate the meanings that psychologists working at anti-violence centers attribute to the clinical intervention with women victims of IPV, with a focus on the area of sleep and dreaming in a traumatic experience, and in the clinical work on the trauma. Twelve female psychologists were interviewed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology. From the analysis of the interviews, three main themes emerged: (1) Day and night, neither awake nor asleep, (2) Anti Violence Centers: setting as a container of emotion? and (3) dreaming undreamt dreams. The study highlights the importance of dreams as an indicator not only of psychic and mental functioning but also of the psychological relationship within a specific context.

Highlights

According to the World Health Organization [1], violence against women is a major public health problem and violation of women’s human rights in the world, and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)is the most widespread form of violence
The psychologists we interviewed often referred to the night as a fragile, precarious space, which is vulnerable to invasion from the partner’s violence, which can unexpectedly, and at any time, assail the victim, even after separation, through a state of constant terror or sudden flashbacks (2a: The terror of the partner besieges the space of the night)
The present study offered some interesting insights into the characteristics of the psychological intervention in services for women who suffer IPV and the roles that dreams and the dream process play for psychologists

Summary

Introduction

According to the World Health Organization [1], violence against women is a major public health problem and violation of women’s human rights in the world, and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)is the most widespread form of violence. IPV is any form of concrete or threatened physical, sexual, psychological, or economic violence, or stalking, perpetrated by an ex or current partner. Within the Member States of the European Union, 22% of women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence at the hands of their partner, with specific country rates ranging from 13% to 32% [2]. Violence against women has serious consequences for women’s psychophysical, sexual and reproductive health, especially in cases of IPV [1]. Indicate that women survivors of IPV tend to suffer from depression, panic attacks, suicide attempts, non-suicidal self-harm, alcohol or drug abuse as a consequence [4,5,6,7,8,9,10], and especially from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [11,12]. The trauma experienced by women post-IPV is different from the trauma that results from other stressful life events

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Discussion

Conclusion