Recovery from Intimate Partner Violence: A Difficult Journey

Abstract

In this existential-phenomenological investigation 15 women were interviewed about their experience of recovering from intimate partner violence (IPV). The purpose of the study was to examine the healing process from IPV from the perspective of those who have experienced it. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using a hermeneutic process. The thematic structure of a woman's journey is comprised of three distinct but connected phases of her life: the abusive past, the struggles of freeing herself physically and emotionally from the abuse/past, and finally the healing/growth that occurs as a woman releases herself from the bitterness and anger of the past. Most of the women in this study were able to experience the peace and healing that occurs with recovery, although a few remained emotionally stuck and unable to free themselves from the past. Thus, there are two stories that are told in this study. The first story is about a journey of recovery. Sadly, the second story is about nonrecovery.