When A Couple Enters Into Marital Counseling

Gurman, A. S. (2008). Clinical handbook of couple therapy (4th ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    In their book, Boundaries in Marriage, the authors, Cloud and Townsend, present a theoretical model for maintaining healthy relationships, specifically marriage relationships. This examination of Cloud and Townsend’s approach to maintaining healthy relationships summarizes both the theoretical and theological orientation of their proposed model, compares their approach to the model proposed by Sandra Wilson in her book, Hurt people hurt people, and considers the model in the context of Dr. Hawkins concentric circle theory of personality, and parents a critique with regard to some’ of the perceived strengths and

Marriage is a very emotional life event. Marriage is based on love and affection and about two people living their lives together. Marriage creates an emotionally fulfilling and intimate relationship and enhances the relationship that is already there. Marriage allowed Cheryl’s self esteem to be enhanced as she became a whole new person, living a more mature way of life. The relationship started off very strong and their intimacy seemed to on a high. On the day of Cheryl’s wedding she will have experienced several different emotions including happiness, nervousness and excitement. During marriage if the relationship remains strong there emotions tend to stay in tact but on a smaller but meaningful scale. A healthy marriage tends to enable emotions to be happy, although an

Based on her history and what she has shared, Cindy may be vulnerable to dismissing her behavior. Cindy experiences bouts of antegrade amnesia, depression, suicidal ideation, low confidence, and chronic pain which involve intracranial hypertension. On the contrary, Cindy also shared that she experiences excessive affection which often annoys others. Cindy grew up in her hometown for the first 14 years of her life. As a young child, Cindy remembers her father as an “extraordinary” man as she holds him with high regard (Zubernis and Snyder, 2016).

Walter and Pam present as a married couple between the ages of 51-60 and have been married between 31-40 years. Walter and Pam together have two children, live in a suburban area and were never previously married. Based on the positive couple agreement (PCA) Walter and Pam categorized as a conflicted couple. An article entitled How to Understand the Revised Individual and the Positive Couple Agreement (2002) explains the PCA as “The Positive Couple Agreement score is a percentage ranging from 0-100% based on the number of positive agreement items a couple agrees on in each of the content areas.”

It conveys purpose and selflessness as paramount to this growth. This unit closes with couples in distress and the crisis they face. It explains that addiction, infidelity, and major losses are some of the most common difficulties couples face. Recognizing unstable patterns and realizing when referral is necessary are covered here.

Every couple has their own unique martial situation, so when counseling two married individuals, it is important for the counselor to remember that fact. No two marriages will be exactly the same, which means that the same counseling approach will not work for every couple. The counselor must be able to be flexible with how they treat each married couple in order to best serve and facilitate progress and healing within the counseling relationship setting. This paper will introduce the reader to a married couple name Chris and Olympia. It will look to explore the unique personality types of the each person in the relationship, the strengths and weaknesses that the couple face as a unit, and the type of counseling

The reason I picked these two individuals to interview is because I knew that they were both in a relationship and I knew them well enough personally that they would be comfortable talking about personal moments in their lives that would allow me to fully examine and evaluate their responses. My underlying fear was that both of the interviews would bring about very similar data with no room for comparisons, but thankfully my fears proved unwarranted. Both of the interviewees had a vested interest in happiness and relationships. To code my two interviewees, I will first regard what characteristics or backgrounds each person had that could have influenced their thoughts on happiness or relationships. Such traits could be their demographics, as both of them were Hispanic and were born in a different country before moving to the United States when they were very young. Both are bilingual in English and Spanish. Both have a younger sibling and a strong maternal figure. Employment status, another coding variable, was different between them. Interviewee 1 had had jobs, but was no longer working, but interviewee 2 continues to work his job during the graveyard shift. Both are in intimate relationships, but the happiness from each relationship varies between the two, along with the thoughts of their partners. Interviewee 1 rarely spoke of problems she had with her significant other while interviewee 2 listed several traits that he found damaging in his significant other.

When conflict occurs within a partnership there is oftentimes a withdrawal from intimacy within the relationship before the conflict is resolved and intimacy can occur again. This is known as the intimacy-conflict cycle. In Little Miss Sunshine the parents, Richard and Sheryl, tend to manage their dissatisfactions with cyclic alternation responses, which are instances when one of the partners voices a complaint that prompts the other’s response in order to resolve their conflict (Galvin, et al., 219). This is seen very

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

In the essay, “What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage”, Amy Sutherland explains that she learned and applied several behavioral training techniques that ultimately helped make her marriage more amicable. She learned the techniques while conducting research for her book, and subsequently used the techniques on her unsuspecting husband to, “nudge him a little closer to perfect”. Amy used training techniques such as approximations, incompatible behavior, and least reinforcing syndrome, (L.R.S.).

When a couple agrees to counseling to help their marriage, one of the first things sought after would be to resolve differences that are weighing heavy on the marriage. In this case, Steve and Cindy have started on a journey through taking the PREPARE/ENRICH program. The tests and answers are detailed to the couples characteristics and personalities and cover the couples strengths and weaknesses. This case study analysis will separate the case into three main topics of discussion. Their strengths and weaknesses will be highlighted first then potential conflicts or problems will be discussed and finally a

According to Schumm, et al., (2010), there are both sort-term and long-term effectiveness of premarital counseling, such as enduring positive influence on the couple’s marital relationship. Also, according to Schumm, et al, (2010), couples who participated in premarital counseling found the most accommodating components of premarital training involved communication skills, commitment, and conflict resolution as the most helpful skills learned during the counseling sessions. The issues and topics that are most covered during premarital counseling sessions are the following: communication, commitment, conflict resolution, egalitarian roles, sexuality, personality issues, and finances (Schumm, et al.,

To measure their satisfaction, the RDAS evaluates and differentiates the couple’s dyadic adjustment in both distressed and nondistressed relationships (Gangamma et al., 2012). Lower scores on this scale indicate greater relationship distress while higher scores indicate greater relationship satisfaction (Gangamma et al., 2012). Thus, both of these measures may aid the therapist in determining each partner’s perception of unfairness and satisfaction within their relationship (Gangamma et al., 2012). These measures also provide the therapist with a greater understanding of where each partner stands in regards to their relationship. Moreover, this greater understanding of the relationship can help the therapist determine a good starting point for contextual couple’s

Conflicts which lead to unresolved issues can influence the quality of the marriage. Although several research was made on marital relationships, the factors which influence the arising of continuous conflicts are still not clear. Unresolved issues are problems which are continuously brought up in a marriage. However, marital conflicts are not the only source of unresolved issues in a relationship. Unresolved conflicts within the marriage can affect the longevity and quality of the marriage, but personal background and individual trauma contribute to marital problems more often than conflicts within the marriage. In fact, marital conflicts are usually started because of personal unresolved issues. If a person develops a behavioral property