Domestic Violence and Its Effects on Children: Fundamental Concepts, Safety Planning and Examples of Alternative Treatment Models

Abstract

Domestic violence is defined as coercive and controlling behaviors that family members show toward each other. These behaviors are frequently seen as repetitive behavior patterns. Research indicates that many domestic violence incidents happen in the presence of children. Being exposed to domestic violence or witnessing domestic violence has similar emotional-behavioral problems in children. In this article, we emphasized different reactions of children to domestic violence within different age groups. Safety planning is a commonly used method in Western cultures for professionals either working with adult victims or child victims of domestic violence. Unfortunately, the importance of safety planning is not yet utilized in Turkey. In this article, the phases of safety planning and three different alternative treatment methods that have been proven successful for working with children who were exposed to domestic violence are explained. [Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry 2016; 8(4.000): 321-336]

Keywords

• domestic violence
• children
• safety planning
• treatment models