Confronting Abusive Beliefs

Group Treatment for Abusive Men

A practical book for both those who work with abusive men and those who work with battered women, Confronting Abusive Beliefs presents a unique model for exploring and changing attitudes that influence abusiveness. Use this proactive program to encourage men to challenge and alter entrenched beliefs about the roles of men and women in male-female relationships. Through interactional sessions, this book cultivates an awareness that helps men change abusive behaviors and attitudes. Accessible session-by-session outlines and handouts bolstered by a sound theoretical basis create a comprehensive package for group leaders, new and established practitioners, and advanced students. Sessions address issues such as expressed emotions, recurring thoughts, communication patterns, and conflict resolution and the belief systems that sustain them. An important contribution to the literature on abuse intervention and prevention, Confronting Abusive Beliefs provides a model for developing respectful relationships that plays an integral role in the therapeutic processes of abusive men. "Mary Nomme Russell presents a solid framework for looking at batterers' treatment with a conceptually sound and interesting premise." --Alyce D. LaViolette, Alternatives Counseling Associates, Long Beach, California "What with the courts requiring treatment as a condition of parole for abusive men this becomes an important text." --Ron MacIssac, review in What's Happening?, Victoria, B.C.