[originally printed in
Education Wife Assault Newsletter, V. 9 # 1, June 1998]
Approximately one half of men who enter treatment programs for battering also have substance abuse problems. These problems range from misuse to abuse to a
dependency on drugs and alcohol. Alcohol problems are the most prevalent with clients also reporting drug abuse. The drug issues range from abuse of prescription drugs to the use of illegal substances such as cannabis
to an increase in the number of men using crack cocaine.
Men who are violent towards their partners and have a parallel problem with substance abuse are more likely to inflict more serious injuries and have a higher
risk of re-offending. These men also have a tendency to blame their violence on the substances or excuse their violent behaviours, claiming they were in an alcohol or drug-induced 'blackout'. While the consumption of
substances does not cause a batterer to become violent, it may lower an already diminished ability to control his own actions.
Some clients may be forthcoming with their drinking or drugging, using it as an excuse,
while others may try to hide it. Intervention programs can identify substance abuse indicators using different sources of information, such as careful intake questioning, police reports and victim impact statements.
Counsellors may also use drug and alcohol screening instruments during orientation or assessment. Contact with the man's partner ('Partner Contact') may reveal a man's substance abuse issues, but this information must
be used carefully so as not to compromise the woman's safety.
Men who are actively drinking and drugging may receive little benefit from a batterer's program. These men may resist the program's requirement of being
clean and sober when attending and may sabotage their participation in the program, either directly or indirectly. Abusive men who will not acknowledge their substance abuse problems continue to put their partners at
risk.
Programs for abusive men must be prepared to treat a man's substance abuse directly if there are trained addictions workers on staff. Otherwise, the program should refer the man to an addictions treatment
program. Ideally, the man can attend for substance abuse treatment concurrently with intervention for his abusive behaviour. There is no evidence that substance abuse treatment in itself will end the battering,
but alcohol and drug problems will interfere with effectively changing abusive behaviours.
