Couples Counselling in Abusive Relationships Doesn't Work.
Though it does not mention depression, it is likely that a person in an abusive relationship will feel depressed
since they feel powerless and they lack emotional support from their partner.
Several people have asked about this and we'd like to address it in case any one of them - or anyone — is ever faced with this — or knows anyone who is faced with it: If you are in any type of intimate relationship where there is abuse: verbal, emotional, psychological (i.e.: gas lighting, crazy making), sexual, or physical — and the abuser suggests "couples" or "partners" counselling as a means to try to "work things out" or as an ultimatum to stay in the relationship - DON'T fall for it.
Couples counselling does NOT work where there is abuse in a relationship because it does not address the issue. Get your own individual, separate counselling to help deal with the abuse. If there is abuse, then abuse is the ONLY issue — not "communication" problems or any other type of mutual interaction problem, so couples counselling will not address this situation properly — and may in fact make it worse.
I had someone suggest this in a prior abusive relationship and soon realized that the reason he wanted couples counselling was ONLY because he wanted the counsellor to FIX ME. In his opinion, nothing was wrong with HIM. He felt (and stated) that he was blameless, not responsible for his abusive behaviour, flawless and I was the one who was "messed up" and who had caused all or most of the issues in the relationship. He denied and minimized his abuse. Many abusers are very narcissistic in this way, viewing themselves as special, above reproach, incapable of making mistakes, and flawless - regardless what they've done or said to their partner. They think they should bear no responsibility for their behaviour, or for how it affects others. A complete lack of empathy for their partner is usually very marked.
In my situation, the counsellor was fairly well-versed in abusive relationships and saw through this. I had spoken with her about this alone prior to sign up. This is a good thing to check ahead of time - ask them directly if they are experienced with counselling people in abusive relationships, and if they're familiar with the tactics of abusive partners.
She soon began confronting him with some of his abuse and lo and behold, he railed and bailed. He minimized, blamed, denied - even blamed the counsellor for "twisting things around" when actually she was UNTWISTING things. She was trying to get beyond his minimization, avoidance, projection, and denial about his abusive behaviour to get to what was really behind it (anger and resentment, among other things and whatever was behind that). Having been confronted and not wanting to take responsibility or face himself, he ended it right then and there (which I fully expected having researched this - but it still hurt a lot at the time).
Most abusers would rather end a relationship - no matter what the situation is - than take responsibility for their abusive behaviour once confronted with it. It's rare that they ever do anything to change, or look at themselves as being whatsoever at fault in driving their relationships to destruction. The problem is, an abusive person will only look at THEIR feelings and SOMEONE ELSE'S behaviour — instead of looking at SOMEONE ELSE'S feelings and THEIR behaviour (as Lundy Bancroft describes in the excerpt below).
When confronted, one of two things will usually happen: They will escalate their abuse - or they will end it - claiming that their partner(s) are being "unreasonable", "too sensitive" or "twisting things around". They will claim THEMSELVES to be the victim.
The abusive person will claim that *other* people are trying to make them "walk on eggshells" (projection) if they're asked to recognize or respect anyone else's feelings or needs. But, it is actually the abuser who chronically causes others to feel that way - with their constant criticism, name-calling, insults, condescension, humiliation, and blame. No one in their relationship(s) can do anything right in their eyes except them, and others will often try to modify their behaviour in order to try to avoid the abuser's constant devaluation and criticism. This is an exercise in futility, however.
"Walking on eggshells" is how an abuser often describes any request to recognize or respect someone else's feelings besides his/her own. (i.e.: "I'm not going to walk on eggshells around you!") For most people who possess the ability to empathize normally, empathy isn't an issue. For an abuser, it's a lot of work because it's not something they're used to having to do — and it's a skill they aren't much interested in. When their partners express hurt because of the abuser's behaviour, the abuser will claim the partner is just "oversensitive". The fact is; the abuser is the one who needs to develop some sensitivity.
As I stated earlier, this is very narcissistic behaviour. Abusers are often narcissists or sociopaths or simply have very strong narcissistic or sociopathic tendencies, primarily marked by a complete lack of empathy towards their partners (beyond the initial romance stage), or at least a marked inability or unwillingness to recognize or respect anyone's feelings or needs other than their own. And this goes far beyond any "communication" problem or "incompatibility" issue. The issue - is the abuse. When abusive people go to couples therapy they simply learn to be more skilled abusers and many of them are quite skilled to begin with. Most are highly intelligent. My own ex was a member of Mensa, in fact.
Couples therapy often will only reinforce abusive behaviour and they become even more slick and condescending and manipulative with their tactics. That's because couples therapy typically deals with abuse as if it were a mutual or communications issue - and it isn't.
Below is a GREAT write-up by Lundy Bancroft (author of Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men") about why couples counselling does NOT work in abusive relationships - and my own experience bears this out.
*An abuser should go into a specialized abuser program and the target / victim should seek his/her own separate counselling. *I'll warn that most abusers won't stoop to such a thing - it would mean they have to admit they have personality problems/faults that have destroyed many of their relationships, and they'd have to be willing to undergo YEARS of tough self-evaluation and work to change — and chances of that are slim to none. It's much easier for them to just find another target for their abuse.