The Psychiatric clinics of North America
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Concern about the different forms of domestic violence continues to escalate. Beginning with identification of child abuse in the 1960s; spouse abuse, primarily of women, in the 1970s; and, most recently, identification of the rising incidence of elder abuse and neglect, the medical community, state, local, and federal governmental agencies and the public continue to promote joint programs to identify, guide to treatment, and simultaneously develop prevention and early intervention programs. Emphasis initially on the use of legal systems to stop, the abuse must almost be mandatory, because numerous studies show that treatment is most successful when abusers are forced to admit to themselves and others that they have, in fact, committed crimes. ⋯ Psychiatric treatment modalities must occur within a framework of acknowledging that domestic violence victims suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatrists can serve as leaders in coordinating multi-pronged treatment options for the victims: advocacy groups; alcohol and drug detoxification; and individual, couple, and family therapy. Psychiatrists can also serve as consultants, leaders, and educators in prevention and early intervention programs to educate the public and all levels of professionals who work with victims: police and legal systems, social service workers, teachers, religious leaders, essentially all who touch the lives of people of all ages who are supposed to live together in domestic mutual respect and caring but do not.