Couple Treatment of Low-Level Partner Aggression

Presented by Daniel O'Leary, Ph.D.

Physical aggression is present in approximately 35-45% of couples in their mid-thirties (Slep & O’Leary, 2008), and in about 50-60% of couples seeking treatment for relationship problems (Jose & O’Leary, 2009). For decades many have argued that no couples should be treated together because of the possibility of increased risk of physical aggression after a therapy session. In addition, there was concern that if partner aggression is seen as a dyadic problem, wives would feel increased self-blame.  However, there is now evidence that couples with low-level aggression can be treated conjointly. This workshop has four goals:

1. Describe a dyadic non-aggression-focused treatment for couples with low-level aggression (Simpson, Gattis & Christensen, 2008)

2. Describe a sequenced treatment for couples with low-level aggression in which men and women are treated separately for anger issues and later treated as a couple (Stith et al, 2005). 

3. Describe our own online brief treatment program for couples with low-level aggression: 3 individual sessions of value clarification and 5 sessions with the couple (O’Leary & Sullivan, 2023). 

4. Describe a qualitative interview study with a dozen expert clinicians who have published on the prevention or treatment of partner abuse and discuss how they would assess for partner aggression (Sullivan & O’Leary, 2024). Their opinions about who should and who should not be treated conjointly will be discussed. 

This workshop was recorded on March 15, 2024.

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