Intimate Partner Violence: Psychoanalytic Theory Application

This paper will discuss a thirty-two year old pregnant woman named Regina, who was brought into the emergency room with many superficial injuries. She is accompanied by her five year-old son. Later in the conversation, Regina discloses that she is a victim in intimate partner violence. Violence is a very common occurrence in partner relationships. According to McHugh and Frieze (2006), it is estimated that more than a quarter of relationships involve at least one violent incident. Partner violence can include anything from a heated argument or yelling, to physical attacks or threats such as hitting, slapping, or pushing (McHugh & Frieze, 2006). Often, the women in relationships are the victims of the abuse, posing the simple question, “why doesn’t she just leave.” For most women, it is near impossible to remove themselves from the relationship because of psychological factors. She may be worried that her partner will abuse her worse should he ever find her. She may fear the guilt that she could experience for leaving the relationship, or she may be concerned about money situations, had he been the sole provider (McHugh & Frieze, 2006). There are many reasons why a woman may feel ‘stuck’ in an abusive relationship, which is why support groups and therapeutic communication are important. The purpose of this paper is to create a therapeutic conversation with Regina and her son, in order to build an appropriate intervention for intimate partner violence using the psychoanalytical theory.

Literature Review

Therapeutic communication is an important skill for a nurse to utilize when it comes to relationships between the patient and nurse. In Regina’s case, integration of empathetic and compassionate communication skills in combinat...

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