Mr Samuel Jinadu, a Clinical Psychologist with Karu General Hospital, Abuja, has recommended conflict resolution mechanisms and medical therapies for spouses in management of domestic violence.
Jinadu made the suggestions while fielding question at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum on Wednesday in Abuja.
He added that such mechanisms could be applied to relationships outside wedlock.
He said it was important for spouses to set up a conflict resolution mechanism in their homes as the first point of call for communication in resolving conflict.
Jinadu said communication was very important as it provides an avenue for partners to vent out issues bottled up in their minds before it escalates to physical abuse, battering or spousal murder.
He said spouses must learn to communicate with each other when any of the partners observe changes in attitude, disposition and behaviour.
Secondly, he said there was need for Nigerians to embrace therapies in resolving mental health issues and personal challenges that affects the family.
Jinadu listed psycho-therapy, couple therapy and family therapy as various means that could be exploited when challenges become overwhelming among partners, noting that such mechanisms had recorded high success rate.
He said the society was beginning to experience a new trend in domestic violence where men are becoming victims of abuse and battering at home.
He listed biological, socio-economic and psychological factors as well personal experiences as some of the predisposal factors resulting to violence among partners.
“The dimension of violence through biological factors could be the level of hormonal imbalance or genetic dispositions experienced by either of the spouses or partners.
“Psychological factors which could be attributed to where the person is coming from, how they attend to pressures, how they have learnt to resolve issues.
“Also their experiences while growing up whereby they grew up to see their parents settle their challenges in a violent way,’’ he said.
On the socio-economic factors, he said men were known to be physically strong, defenders and sole providers of their homes in the past; however the trend has changed in the society.
He said the womenfolk were getting into the work environment, with expectations to meet up responsibilities of both work and the home thus resulting in built up stress, exhaustion and impatience.
Jinadu added that the pressure experienced by some women without receiving the love and respect they deserve from their spouses could develop anger resulting in violence against her partner.
He advised partners to always find better ways in venting out emotions by speaking with third parties such as relatives or psychologists when they feel psychologically and emotionally stressed and exhausted.
The clinical psychologist further encouraged parents to adopt ground rules on solving issues in the family without the knowledge of their children.
“When a child is abusing substance, misbehaving or demonstrating conduct disorder problems that means the child is a symptom of what is happening in the home.
“When the family is dysfunctional, they are only breeding a circle as the children eventually become dysfunctional in the society as well as in their families.
“To break such circle is to learn to communicate and manage issues as adults, become role models to their children while letting down pride and forgiving one another,’’ Jinadu added. (NAN)