According to domestic violence attorneys, there have been numerous studies that show that a person who is violent against other people, or society in general, they may have learned that behavior. Throughout these individual’s lives, they have been subconsciously trained to react to certain emotions and situations with violence, but this is not only due to anger. To further complicate the issue, the abuser uses the fact that they felt that unpleasant sensation because of something you did or did not do. With this, the abuser refocus the blame on the victim. Many emotional triggers will bring on violence in this group of people. Here are a few emotions that may trigger their violent acts:
- Anger
- Jealousy
- Pain
- Fear
- Empathy
The idea behind Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is that by learning the emotional triggers and changing the way an abuser thinks when they are experiencing an emotional time, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can break the chain of events and mental process involved to arrest the behavior. Ultimately, the patient will learn to live in a better and healthier way while also learning how to handle their reactions in all types of situations.
How Does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy work?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy may happen on a one-on-one basis or in a group session or family session. You can expect it to take a little while (maybe 2-3 sessions) for your doctor to get a clear understanding of you and your problems. The first step is identifying inappropriate thought patterns. For example, if your wife smiles in passing at a man in public, and your reaction is anger and jealousy which leads to a verbal or physical assault on your wife, that is an inappropriate response. To retrain the brain, you must first understand where the wires are crossed. You may have many such triggers. Most of them lead back to some insecurity in your life. If anyone steps outside your definition of a true and loyal person, you are ready to fight.
In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, you will learn all about your mental health and you. You will also be trained to use:
- Relaxation skills
- Stress management
- Coping
- Stress management
- Assertiveness
- Reasoning skills
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a goal oriented therapy and it is all about helping a person let go of their need for control or jealous thoughts every time someone even smiles in their spouse’s direction. By addressing these specific issues and retraining the brain’s reaction to certain emotions, the need for verbal and physical domestic violence can be alleviated.
It stands to reason, if a behavior can be learned, it can be unlearned and refocused. Often this type of abuse has passed down from one generation to another. Putting in the work to change this learned behavior now will benefit you, your spouse, your family and all future generations. Your children will learn from you that it is unhealthy to allow emotions to make us unreasonable and that violence in any form is unacceptable.
For more information, contact a domestic violence attorney today.
