AITA for disallowing my son from being alone with his girlfriend?

Her son is already using defense mechanisms to avoid seeing her behaviour as troubling as it is. The risk of introducing more material to trigger the defense outweighs the benefits. If you wanted to go into knowledge = power, you're better off introducing a basic CBT model to show how his avoidant behaviour, withdrawal from pleasurable behaviours and his defensive thoughts will cause a downward spiral in his mood. A second CBT model can be drawn up to show how the girlfriends behaviour could spiral. After this, schema's could be examined to pin point underlying beliefs the son has that perpetuate his actions of thinking abusive treatment is acceptable when hes seeking love. These options are best introduced by a licensed Psychologist. CBT has multiple peer reviewed journals showing efficacy for Trauma victims. EMDR may not be applicable because there may not be specific trauma memories. MATCH- ADTC may also be an option, but it more behavioural focussed.

Knowledge = power? I'm a provisionally registered psychologist. This is my job.

/r/AmItheAsshole Thread Parent