Intimate Warfare

The community in which children are nursed; the family, should by all means be a safe haven. However, it is not. People in family relations are more likely to be threatened, hit, kicked, raped or beaten up. Such violence in the domestic circle conjures up a lot of questions. The authors have been engaged with this problematical issue for years and are now trying to make the dynamics of violence within the family more comprehensive. This book is a reflection of on their dialogue.

Martine Groen is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, who has specialized in the effects of violence and trauma in families. She is also a trainer, consultant, coach and mediator in non-profit organizations. She consulted and trained traumatized women, families and organizations from 1995 to 2005 in former Yugaslavia, and took part in a conflict-resolutions scheme between various organizations in Bosnia. She has published several books on prostitution, intimate war, domestic violence, shame and violence. Justine van Lawick is a clinical psychologist and registered psychotherapist specializing in systemic therapy, and has worked as a family therapist in adult psychiatry and child psychiatry. In 1984 she was co-founder of the LORENTZHUIS centre of systemic therapies, training and consultation in Harrlem, the Netherlands. Together with Martine Groen she developed a systemic model for conjoint work with family violence, and is a specialist in systemic work with violence problems in families. She has edited and published many papers and books.