Combining Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy

The primary tool of this therapy is called The Couple’s Dialogue which teaches couples to communicate more effectively. It is structured to create emotional security that is required for people to communicate their insecurities and with one another to ultimately create an empathetic connection (Robbins, 2005). In the study Couples Therapy and Empathy: An Evaluation of the Impact of IRT on Partner Empathy Levels, Gelhert and Schmidt (2016) had adult couples complete twelve 90-minute treatment sessions and assessed them using the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI). The IRI is a self-report measure scored on a Likert scale from 0-4 that asks about the psychological viewpoint of others. Interestingly, the study found that over the course of 12 sessions of IRT, participants in the treatment group showed a steady increase in their empathy scores. These results indicate that focusing on empathy in IRT does affect people on an individual level in addition to empirically proven increases in marital satisfaction (Gelhert & Schmidt, 2016). This, along with other studies have shown that IRT helps people become more empathetic with their counterparts, which in turn could help ADHD couples understand each other more on an interpersonal level as well as help develop copping methods for ADHD symptoms. Additionally, when discussing romantic relationships earlier, it was articulated

There are plenty of other objectives and intervention techniques that the Hope-Focused Counseling approach offers to couples who are struggling. The above mentioned areas were addressed, because the area of communication and conflict resolution are two very important areas that couples need to be clear and effective in to promote a long lasting marriage relationship. Luckily, Olympia and Chris seemed dedicated and committed to one another and doing whatever they need to do in order make the marriage

Lebow (2006) stated that currently couples therapy is on a roll more than it was 20 years ago, as it has become more accepted by the general public. This article revealed some unique insight into different aspects of why some couples are satisfied, or succeed at remaining together and why some couples are not satisfied, or do not remain together. Learning information from an article of this nature would benefit me as a marriage counselor because I feel it would be important to know what new advances are being

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. JAMES D. GIBSON FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR CO 5740 INTRODUCTION TO MARRIAGE AND FAMILY COUNSELING

After reading two articles it was interesting to note the differences and similarities between the two intellectual and highly respected individuals within the field of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT). Each makes many valid points yet with such opposing viewpoints. By taking a closer look at some specific areas one may see that though these men have different beliefs on how treatment should be conducted, there are also some parallels. Some of the topics will include the history and future of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT), what they agree and disagree on along with the challenges each has dealt with. Finally the author of this paper will provide insight as to what this means for her as she begins her journey to becoming a Marriage and Family therapist.

Participants. The study used previously collected pre-treatment data from a 5-year longitudinal study comparing the effectiveness of Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) and Traditional Behavioral Couple Therapy (TBCT) (Christensen et al., 2004). Participants included 134 chronically and seriously distressed heterosexual couples seeking couple therapy in Los Angeles (71 couples) and Seattle (63 couples). To be included in the study, couples had to be legally married and cohabiting, be seeking couple therapy, and meet criteria for serious and stable marital distress based on measures of marital satisfaction administered at three different time points prior to the intervention. Additionally, both partners had to be between the ages of

Emotionally focused therapy is designed to be short-term in structure. Developed principally by Dr. Susan Johnson, the main target of this type of therapy is couples and is focused on expressing emotions. The primary goal of emotionally focused therapy is to create a safe and long-lasting bond between romantic partners and family members while expanding and restructuring significant emotional responses. Partakers in emotionally focused therapy are emboldened to express their thoughts and emotions in a safe environment without fear of judgment. In this paper, we will discuss a therapy session between Sue Johnson and a couple, Leslie and Scott.

Doherty asserts that what most couples are not aware of is that you can practice marriage therapy without any experience, training or coursework. This is because any counseling license will allow a person to counsel couples, whether they have experience or not. He also states that couples therapy was the only form of therapy to receive low ratings by a survey done in 1996 by Consumer Report. With all of that said, it is not surprising why there are so many couples out there who have experienced “bad couple therapy”. Therefore it is imperative that John and Susan know how to avoid being caught up in this dilemma.

As a future marriage, couple, and family counselor it is important for me to have an awareness and understanding of the various theories that are available to use in counselling sessions. As my career evolves, so will my therapeutic orientation. I expect that my theoretical lens will shift slightly. In addition, developing my therapeutic orientation will help enhance my abilities as a therapist. My theoretical lens as it applies to human nature is discussed in this paper as it relates to the Marriage, Family, and Couple theory I selected. Also, discussed in this paper are techniques, factors, goals, related to the Bowen Family Systems theory. This paper will also provide an overview of the eight

At the beginning of relationships, couples face the challenge of the unknown of one another’s life experiences. Although they are unknown and scary when thought about, they are very exciting as well. The challenges they now face from being in a relationship happen with themselves and as a couple. At first, each challenge, including with yourself, will have an affect on the relationship they have created together. One thing couples can do to help their relationship if it is in need, is to look for outside help such as counseling. Sometimes it is important to look to someone on the outside to help you with your issues because they have the ability to see things you may not see. In doing so, it may take the relationship back to a healthy, strong, loving, trusting relationship that it once was. Susan, was the person Josh

Their case is complicated and needs a long-term therapy. It is better to use Emotion-Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT-C) which “treated differentially depending on which emotion is expressed and how it functions for both the individual and the couple.” Firstly interviewing both of them separately to get more information about what happened in the past thirty years, and then according to the information they provided to design relative interventions for both of them together. For Owen, the individual system which focuses on biological and psychological aspects of the biopsychosocial systems model works because his behaviors started the long journey of marital drama. It is better to understand their circumstances at that time. Owen’s behavior did not match his image. What were the factors (relationship with Shirley, parents or other family members, work or colleagues, etc.) that cause his dishonest? How did he explain and deal with Shirley when she found out the affairs? Did he have feelings to those women he had sex with? What was his attitude to his behavior? Did he think of divorce since he was not a Christian at the time and did not care about religious commitment? It is also important to ask him how did he convert to Christianity 12 years later after the affairs, as well as his feelings of giving up career firstly in China, and then in Canada. Did he sacrifice his careers out of love or guilty?

Many couples experiencing relationship distress choose not to seek therapeutic help. “Recent estimates founded that only 19% of intact couples seek any type of counseling or therapy for their relationship and that only 37% of divorced couples sought any couple therapy prior to divorcing” (Cicila, Georgia, & Doss, 2014). Reasons why couples decide not to seek treatment are because of the perceived stigma associated with therapy, financial burden, and logistical concerns, such as difficulty scheduling appointments or finding transportation to appointments (Cicila et al., 2014). These findings show couples would rather keep issues between themselves than talk to a therapist who has the skills and expertise in marital discord.

The points I learned about behavioral couples therapy are clients need to change their own behaviors and not others, help clients understand goals, find out what changes do they want to make, and be an expert on what behaviors will work and which behaviors will not after experimenting them in the real world. What stands out to me are that clients focus on changing their own behaviors. Additionally, counselors should identify and maximize their clients strengths. I thought that not spending time on how clients learned behaviors, but understanding what are their learned behaviors was the most beneficial part of the model. What I might consider in my own work was when Dr. Stuart was focusing on the here and now and not the past. I understood what

After completing reading the materials for this week, I have decided that my personal method of intervention to couple’s therapy is the model of Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy or mostly known as CBCT. Such model of intervention assists distressed couples to function adequately by teaching couples how to improve their communication utilizing techniques or ideas increasing their satisfaction level. Besides, CBCT has been researched and supported by a systemic family therapy (D’Aniello, 2013). In other words, in an intervention, the therapist uses techniques to help the couple to build commitment to prevent distress and increase satisfaction.

I had the privilege of attending the discernment training provided by the NHAMFT on October 2, 2015. I was astounded to learn that 30% of couples entering into couple’s therapy are mixed-agenda couples (Doherty, 2011). According to the speaker, Rachel Zamore (2015), mixed-agenda couples are unsuccessful with couple’s therapy because they are “half-hearted.” Meaning one person is “leaning in” and one person is “leaning out” of the relationship. She continued to explain that because therapists lacked the models and protocols to deal with these couples, they were literally falling through the cracks due to the lack of effective support.