Citation

Holman WD. Child Fam. Soc. Work 2011; 16(2): 219-227.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2206.2010.00734.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Child abuse experts agree that the single factor ultimately responsible for child maltreatment is the inability of parents to control their aggressive impulses. This paper describes a verbalizing, ego‐supportive intervention for work with potentially abusive parents. It is designed to give parents increased understanding of the experience of parenting and greater control over their angry impulses. The intervention is based on two well‐supported premises: anger towards one's children is natural and inevitable; and putting angry feelings and thoughts into words significantly diminishes the tendency to put them into action. The engagement, ego‐building and prevention benefits of the intervention are discussed.