Children may attend life-skills training or tutoring programs. Dr. Patrick Towlan, director of the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a professor in the department of psychiatry, said that teaching kids ways to deal with stress other than using anger, alcohol or drugs is important. If you grew up with a parent who beat you, you need to manage that impulse more than people who didn't. Same with alcohol or drug use. Towlan added, however, that many professionals aren't willing to work with abusers.
Many practitioners specialize in treating victims.
They become super-organized. They develop incredible skills. So they can look as if they are completely resilient. Beneath, though, there are terrible scars. They feel as if they have to do it all for themselves.