CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPRISONED WIFE-BEATERS

The aim of this study is to present the authors' recent findings conce rning the wife-beater and to discuss the existing state of knowledge a s well as practical implications concerning the treatment of these men . The study presents interview and register data as well as some endoc rinological findings in 18 wife-beaters sentenced to prison. These men generally lived under unfavourable socio-economic conditions, half of them were immigrants and most of them had been maltreated as children . Drug and alcohol abuse was common. The men showed an overconsumption of both somatic in-patient and out-patient care but had virtually no previous psychiatric history. Depressive symptoms were common, however , as were anti-social personality traits, reflected in a marked involv ement in both violent and non-violent offences. The levels of testoste rone were generally high. It is argued that the most efficient therape utic approach would be to treat alcohol and drug addiction, an aspect of rehabilitation that has often been underestimated or overlooked in previous treatment programmes. The period of imprisonment could be uti lized for these purposes, as an alcoholic who becomes sober is probabl y less prone to abuse his wife.