According to international research the most extensive treatment method used for intimate partner violence is group therapy with a feministic- and/or cognitive behavioral therapy based approach. Empirical studies of couples therapy are much more rare, and research studies of individual therapy are almost completely absent (Babcock, Green, & Robie, 2004; Dutton & Nichols, 2005).
Several methodological difficulties make studies of intimate partner violence treatment extra challenging. In addition this field is influenced by ideology and the emergence of treatment methods has not followed the same developmental trajectories as other psychological treatments. Political decisions, legal aspects and considerations towards victims have affected the offered treatment design more than empirical and scientifically founded method-development has.
The general finding is that the effect of specific interventions are either small or non-existing, which can be explained in several ways. In part the general experience from psychotherapy research is that the effects of a specific intervention are often difficult to demonstrate. Furthermore most studies on intimate partner violence treatment are done on court-mandated treatments, where treatment is given in addition to legal actions. To show that therapy has an effect in addition to the effect of being arrested, put under surveillance etc. is difficult, and the results of the studies do not necessarily mean that the evaluated therapy program does not have an effect. Nonetheless the effects presented in quasi-experimental studies are small and in experimental studies even smaller.
The largest meta-analysis shows an average effect of about 0.1 for experimental studies, where this outcome is based on a partner-filed report or criminal registers (Babcock, Green & Robie, 2004).
That the research of treatment specifically for violent perpetrators is lagging behind the general psychotherapy research field can be understood through the short time psychological treatment for perpetrators have existed, the extraordinary legal circumstances that separate violent behavior from other psychological problems and the ideological position held by many of the pioneers within this field.