Exploration of women's identity: clinical approaches with abused women.

This article outlines clinical approaches with women in abusive relationships or those who recently have left such situations. A model, the process of entrapment in and recovering from an abusive relationship, describes the experience of women in abusive relationships with a male partner and the cumulative influence of these experiences on women's views of self. This model has served as the basis for the development of specific interventions designed to assist women at different points in time while they experience abuse in a relationship or are recovering from the experience of being abused.