Abstract
This article examines the constructions of loss of self-control by male perpetrators of intimate violence in therapy-group conversations. It looks at discursive strategies used by therapists and clients in therapy-group negotiations concerning the issue of self-control. The data are part of a larger corpus of videotaped and transcribed recordings of treatment groups for male perpetrators and consists of four treatment group processes. The analysis concentrates on episodes of self-control talk where a participant referred to loss of self-control when accounting for his violent behavior. The loss of self-control was found to be a fundamental constituent of excuses and was used to account for the clients' behavior in past violent situations. It allowed the speaker to admit the reprehensible character of his behavior, while denying full responsibility for it. It also permitted the speaker to be portrayed as a responsible person in the present conversational group therapy context. These different representations of the past and present selves gave those presentations the appearance of inconsistency. The therapists used this inconsistency in the clients' talk to challenge the use of loss of self-control as excuse, and thus called for more responsible accounts.
About the authors
Terhi Partanen, M.A., is a fulltime researcher and a doctoral student at the Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her dissertation consists of discourse-analytic studies on therapeutic treatment processes and identity constructions of male perpetrators of domestic violence. The study is funded by the Academy of Finland. She has also been a group facilitator in the men's groups and she works as a parttime psychotherapist at the Psychotherapy Clinic of the department.
Jarl Wahlström, Ph.D., is Professor in Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He graduated as a psychologist from the University of Helsinki and received his doctorate at Jyväskylä. He has advanced training in family and systems therapy, and, in addition to being a university teacher, has extensive experience as a clinical psychologist, family therapist, trainer, and consultant. His main research interest is in psychotherapy discourse, a topic on which he has published in several international journals and books.
Juha Holma, Ph.D., is a Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His doctoral dissertation deals with narrative analysis of psychosis and its treatment. He is a family therapist on advanced specialist level, and he has been a group facilitator in the treatment groups for men who have battered their partners. He is presently doing research on group treatment for male batterers.
© Walter de Gruyter
