Abstract
To adapt methods of accessing the voice of children who are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV), this paper explores the contribution of art as means of communicating during therapy with a 10-year-old girl. Based on a retrospective review of the intervention, it presents several examples of the use of art, as well as the way in which they contributed to the creation of a direct and indirect discussion about the girls’ exposure to IPV. This is discussed in relation to the developmental world of children who have been exposed to IPV, and their location within the family as a system.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the various forms of domestic violence. Since the present paper focuses on a child’s exposure to violence between her parents, the term used will be IPV.
In Hebrew, the two words are similarly spelled.
References
Aaro, T. (2002). Drawing as a verbally mediated activity: A study of relationships between verbal, motor, and visuospatial skills and drawing in children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 26(3), 234–247.
Alvarez, A. (2002). Live company: psychoanalytic psychotherapy with utistic, borderline, deprived, and abused children. New York: Brunner-Routledge.
Amato, P. R., & Afifi, T. D. (2006). Feeling caught between parents: Adult children’s relations with parents and subjective well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68(1), 222–235.
Betensky, M. G. (1995). What do you see: Phenomenology of therapeutic art expression. Ringwood: Readers Digest.
Borrego, J., Gutow, M. R., Reicher, S., & Barker, C. H. (2008). Parent–child interaction therapy with domestic violence populations. Journal of Family Violence, 23(6), 495–505.
Bowen, M. (1993). Family therapy in clinical practice. New York: Jason Aronson.
Bowyer, L., Swanston, J., & Vetere, A. (2015). Eventually you just get used to it’: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of 10–16-year-old girls’ experiences of the transition into temporary accommodation after exposure to domestic violence perpetrated by men against their mothers. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 20(2), 304–323.
Buckley, H., Holt, S., & Whelan, S. (2007). Listen to me! Children’s experiences of domestic violence. Child Abuse Review, 16(5), 296–310.
Buehler, C., & Welsh, D. P. (2009). A process model of adolescents’ triangulation into parents’ marital conflict: the role of emotional reactivity. Journal of Family Psychology, 23(2), 167.
Callaghan, J. E., Alexander, J. H., Sixsmith, J., & Fellin, L. C. (2016). Beyond “Witnessing” children’s experiences of coercive control in domestic violence and abuse. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515618946.
Callaghan, J. E. M., & Alexander, J. H. (2015). Understanding agency and resistance strategies: Children’s experiences of domestic violence report. Northampton: UON.
Cater, ÅK. (2014). Children’s descriptions of participation processes in intervention for children exposed to intimate partner violence. Child and Adolescence Social Work, 31, 455–473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-014-0330-z.
Cooper, J., & Vetere, A. (2008). Domestic violence and family safety: A systemic approach to working with violence in families. London: Wiley.
Dallos, R., & Vetere, A. (2012). Systems theory, family attachments and processes of triangulation: Does the concept of triangulation offer a useful bridge? Journal of Family Therapy, 34, 117–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6427.2011.00554.x.
Di Leo, J. H. (2015). Children’s drawings as diagnostic aids. New York: Routledge.
Driessnack, M. (2002). To the editor. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 16(3), 156.
Eriksson, M., & Nasman, E. (2012). Interviews with children expose to domestic violence. Children & Society, 26, 63–73.
Flashman, A. A. (2011). House depends on braking: Clinical thinking about child abuse (In Hebrew). https://alanflashman.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/d791d799d7aa-d7aad79cd795d799-d7a2d79c-d791d79cd799d79ed794-as-2003.pdf.
Frankel, J. (2002). Exploring Ferenczi’s concept of identification with the aggressor: Its role in trauma, everyday life, and the therapeutic relationship. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 12(1), 101–139.
Freud, A. (1974). The ego and the mechanisms of defense. New York: International Universities Press.
Furth, G. M. (2002). The secret world of drawings: A Jungian approach to healing through art. Toronto: Inner City Books.
Georgsson, A., Almqvist, K., & Broberg, A. (2011). Naming the unmentionable: How children exposed to intimate partner violence articulate their experiences. Journal of Family Violence, 26, 117–129.
Gilbert, T., Farrand, P., & Lankshear, G. (2012). Troubled lives: Chaos and trauma in the accounts of young people considered “at risk” of diagnosis of personality disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 26, 747–754. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6712.2012.00991.x.
Goldblatt, H. (2003). Strategies of coping among adolescents experiencing inter parental violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18(5), 532–552.
Groves, B. M., Van Horn, P., & Lieberman, A. F. (2007). Deciding on fathers’ involvement in their children’s treatment after domestic violence. In J. L. Edleson & O. J. Williams (Eds.), Parenting by men who batter: New directions for assessment and intervention (pp. 65–84). New York: Oxford University Press.
Grych, J. H., Wachsmuth-Schlaefer, T., & Klockow, L. L. (2002). Interpersonal aggression and young children representations of family relationship. Journal of Family Psychology, 16(3), 259–272.
Hague G., & Mullender, A. (2006). Who listens? The voices of domestic violence survivors in service provision in the United Kingdom. Violence Against Women, 12, 568–587.
Hahn, S. A., & Postmus, J. L. (2014). Economic empowerment of impoverished IPV survivors: A review of best practice literature and implications for policy. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 15(2), 79–93.
Hamama, L., & Ronen, T. (2009). Children’s drawings as a self-report measurement. Child & Family Social Work, 14(1), 90–102.
Holden, G. W. (2003). Children exposed to domestic violence and child abuse: Terminology and taxonomy. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 6(3), 151–160.
Holstein, J. A., & Gubrium, J. F. (2011). The constructionist analytics of interpretive practice. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (4th ed., pp. 341–358). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Holt, S., Buckley, H., & Whelan, S. (2008). The impact of exposure to domestic violence on children and young people: A review of the literature. Child Abuse & Neglect, 32, 797–810.
Huss, E., Elhozayel, E., & Marcus, E. (2012). Art in group work as an anchor for integrating the micro and macro levels of intervention with incest survivors. Clinical Social Work Journal, 40(4), 401–411.
Izaguirre, A., & Cater, Å (2016). Child witnesses to intimate partner violence their descriptions of talking to people about the violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516639256.
Johnston, J. (2003). Group interventions for children at risk from family abuse and exposure to domestic violence: A report of a study. In R. Geffner, R. Igelman & J. Zelner (Eds.), The effects of intimate partner violence on children (pp. 203–225). Binghamton: Haworth.
Kamal, L., Strand, J., Jutengren, G., & Tidefors, I. (2017). Perceptions and experiences of an attachment-based intervention for parents troubled by intimate partner violence. Clinical Social Work Journal, 45(4), 311–319.
Karkou, V. (2010). Arts therapies in schools: Research and practice. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Kerr, M. E., & Bowen, M. (1988). Family evaluation: An approach on Bowen theory. New York: Noryon & Co.
Klepsch, M., & Logie, L. (2014). Children draw and tell: An introduction to the projective uses of children’s human figure drawing. New York: Routledge.
Madigan, S., Ladd, M., & Goldberg, S. (2003). A picture is worth a thousand words: Children’s representations of family as indicators of early attachment. Attachment & Human Development, 5(1), 19–37.
Malchiodi, C. A. (1997). Breaking the silence: Art therapy with children from violent homes. New York: Psychology Press.
Malchiodi, C. A. (1998). Understanding children’s drawings. New York: Guilford Press.
Malchiodi, C. A. (2008). Group and play therapy program for children from violent homes. In C. A. Malchiodi (Ed.), Creative interventions with traumatized children: Basics of practice (pp. 264–284). New York: The Guilford Press.
Mallia, G. (1997). The use of comics strip in adult education practice. In G. Baldacchino & P. Mayo (Eds.), Beyond schooling. Malta: Mireva Publications.
McGee, C. (2000). Childhood experiences of domestic violence. London: Sage.
Mills, E., & Kellington, S. (2012). Using group art therapy to address the shame and silencing surrounding children’s experiences of witnessing domestic violence. International Journal of Art Therapy, 17(1), 3–12.
Milner, M. (2010). On not being able to paint. New York: Routledge.
Mulholland, M. J. (2004). Comics as Art Therapy. Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 21(1), 42–43.
Mullender, A., Hague, G., Imam, U., Kelly, L., Malos, E., & Regan, L. (2003). Children perspective on domestic violence. London: Sage.
Nissimov-Nahum, E. (2008). A model for art therapy in educational settings with children who behave aggressively. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 35(5), 341–348.
Onyskiw, J. E. (2003). Domestic violence and children’s adjustment: A review of research. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 3(1/2), 11–45.
Osofsky, J. D. (1995). Children who witness to domestic violence: The invisible victims. Social Policy Report: Society for Research in Child Development, 9(3), 3–18.
Överlien, C. (2013). The children of patriarchal terrorism. Journal of Family Violence, 28, 277–287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9498-9.
Överlien, C. (2017). ‘Do you want to do some arm wrestling?’: Children’s strategies when experiencing domestic violence and the meaning of age. Child &Family Social Work, 22(2), 680–688.
Överlien, C., & Hydén, M. (2009). Children’s actions when experiencing domestic violence. Childhood, 16, 479–496.
Peled, E. (2000). Parenting by men who abuse women: Issues and dilemmas. British Journal of Social Work, 30(1), 25–36.
Peleg-Oren, N. (2002). Group intervention for children of drug-addicted parents—Using expressive techniques. Clinical Social Work Journal, 30(4), 403–418.
Rubin, J. A. (2011). Child art therapy. Hoboken: Wiley.
Santelli, J. S., Rogers, A. S., Rosenfeld, W. D., DuRant, R. H., Dubler, N., Morreale, M., English, A., Lyss, S., Wimberly, Y., & Schissel, A. (2003). Guidelines for adolescent health research: A position paper for the Society for Adolescent Medicine. Journal of Adolescent Health, 33(5), 396–409.
Scott, J. (2008). Children as respondents: The challenge for quantitative methods. In P. Christensen & A. James (Eds.), Research with children: Perspectives and practices (2nd ed., pp. 87–108). New York: Routledge.
Solberg, A. (2014). Reflections on interviewing children living in difficult circumstances: courage, caution and co-production. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 17(3), 233–248.
Swanston, J., Bowyer, L., & Vetere, A. (2014). Towards a richer understanding of school-age children’s experiences of domestic violence: The voices of children and their mothers. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 19(2), 184–201.
Thompson, E. H., & Trice-Black, S. (2012). School-based group interventions for children exposed to domestic violence. Journal of Family Violence, 27, 233–241.
Tufford, L., Mishna, F., & Black, T. (2010). Mandatory reporting and child exposure to domestic violence: Issues regarding the therapeutic alliance with couples. Clinical Social Work Journal, 38(4), 426–434.
Ullman, S. E. (2011). Is disclosure of sexual traumas helpful? Comparing experimental laboratory versus field study results. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 20, 148–162.
Wallter, D. (2006). Art therapy for children: How it leads to change. Clinical Child Psychology, 11, 271–282.
Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and reality. New York: Psychology Press.
Young-Bruehl, E. (2003). Where do we fall when we fall in love? New York: Other Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Malka, M. Art as a Facilitator of Communication on Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence: A Retrospective Examination of a 10-Year-Old Girl’s Therapy. Clin Soc Work J 47, 185–197 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-018-0689-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-018-0689-y