This article describes an innovative model of couples therapy designed to mitigate marital instability. The authors suggest that combining ongoing couples therapy with a separate relationship-focused group for each partner favorably impacts each person's neuropsychophysiological regulation and their ability to participate in a stable intimate marriage. The neurobiology of attachment theory is s...

In this article, we review the major conceptual and clinical influences and trends in the history of couple therapy to date, and also chronicle the history of research on couple therapy. The evolving patterns in theory and practice are reviewed as having progressed through four distinctive phases: Phase I--Atheoretical Marriage Counseling Formation (1930-1963); Phase II--Psychoanalytic Experime...

An ability to form and develop a collaborative alliance with each partner and to enlist their support for relationship-focused therapy, for example by: responding empathically in order to validate the experience of each partner, especially their emotional experience accepting and exploring each partner’s reservations about engaging in couple therapy gauging when and whether separate sessions ar...

The blamer softening event has been associated with successful treatment outcomes in emotionally focused couple therapy. Previous research has highlighted the critical role of softening events and heightened emotional experience in best sessions of emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT). This study examined the effects of a therapist's emotional presence in predicting heightened levels of cli...

When working with homosexuals, it is very important to take into consideration the social and cultural context in which they live. It influences both the problems experienced by them and the process of revealing these problems. It is crucial for professionals who help them. If they are not aware of their own prejudices, their relations with patients are disturbed and the process of treatment is...

The Couple's Relating to Each Other Questionnaires (CREOQ) are a set of four questionnaires for measuring negative forms of interrelating within couples. They enable each partner to rate his/her relating to the other and the other's relating to him/her. They are based upon the theoretical structure called the interpersonal octagon, and each questionnaire has eight scales. They are usually accom...

Reviewed the experimental evidence for the efficacy of videotape and verbal feedback in behavioral couple therapy; it is concluded that research to date does not permit definitive conclusions concerning the efficacy of either procedure. Studies on behavioral differences between happy and distressed couples also were summarized. The evidence indicates that it is, as yet, difficult to ascertain j...

This article offers an overview of the expanding field of couple therapy, focusing on what the author considers to be new and even revolutionary in this field. In terms of outcome research, this article suggests that differential treatment effects are discernable. Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) appears to demonstrate the best outcomes at present. The most significant differences between rese...

Despite the steady increase of Muslims in America, there is a scarcity of research for mental health professionals who wish to work with Muslim couples. The goal of this article is to provide mental health therapists the common features of Muslim marriages and how they are influenced by the religious and social context, with clinical implications for couples therapy interventions being discussed.

This paper examines the relational view of the person in Martin Buber's philosophy of dialogue. Shifts toward the relational are considered in the context of human development, gender studies, psychotherapy, and family therapy. A dialogical approach to couples therapy is presented, in which partners are encouraged to move toward a more collaborative, empathic relationship--a relationship of "I ...