Psychology of Female Violence

Anna Motz is a Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist with the Thames Valley Forensic Mental Health Services. She has extensive clinical experience with women as perpetrators and victims of violence and with the staff teams who work with them. She has written widely on this topic and is the Past President of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy.

"This sophisticated book is recommended to forensic psychiatrists, psychologists, and nurses working with women who have offended." - Susan Hatters Friedman, MD, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law "This scholarly work by Anna Motz is a vital resource for all professionals dealing with violent women. It is a wonderful book and I am proud to be associated with it." - Baroness Helena Kennedy QC "This deeply felt and well-researched book exposes the myths and challenges the rhetoric behind violent women. Its fascinating, sharply etched clinical portraits, richly embedded in their social and historical milieu, challenge us in a subtle and accessible manner. It offers an integrated approach to understanding and caring for a disadvantaged patient group. It should be read and reread." - Raymond Travers, The British Journal of Psychiatry (2009) 194, 379-384 "This short book is an excellent introduction to working with women in forensic settings, and also offers insights to more seasoned practitioners. [...] I am certain that it is a book I will dip into whenever I am faced with a particularly complex and challenging female patient, and would definitely recommend to others, both as an introduction to working with women and as a reference." - Kajal Patel, The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 2009 "This is an invaluable book not just for those working within forensic settings (although it is undoubtedly essential reading if you do) but would be of relevance to anyone interested in female expressions of violence more generally." - Laura Pipon-Young, Clinical Psychology Forum 198, June 2009. "Motz's boook goes a long way in developing a better understanding of female violence and will be beneficial in the optimal confinement and treatment of women who commit such acts". - Nicola Revington, Psychological Medicine, Volume 42, 2012 Reviews of the first edition: "Motz has provided not only an outline of the complexity of each aspect of female violence, but also a full explanation of the means by which each of the professional agencies combine to ascertain diagnosis." - Tessa Adams, British Journal of Psychotherapy "Learning about this material rather than simply feeling the emotional impact of it is one of the factors that will make this book essential reading for anybody who comes into contact with violent women." - Anne Aieyebusi, Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health

• Foreword to first edition by Dr Estela Welldon, Foreword by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Acknowledgements, Introduction, PART I. Violence against children, 1. The development of maternal abuse: female perversion, 2. Female sexual abuse of children, 3. Maternal physical abuse, 4. Fabricated or induced illness, 5. Infanticide, PART II. Violence against the self, 6. Deliberate self-harm, 7. Anorexia nervosa, PART III. Violence against others, 8. Battered women who kill, PART IV. Clinical applications, 9. Working with women who kill, 10. Hiding and being lost: the case for women-only secure units, Conclusion, Bibliography, Index