Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy, Second Edition - Hardcover

Updating and expanding upon the highly acclaimed and widely adopted Clinical Handbook of Marital Therapy, this book is a comprehensive, authoritative guide to therapy with couples. Placing couple therapy at the center of cutting-edge developments in the broader domain of psychotherapy, the volume presents a balanced mixture of both major enduring clinical methods and recent conceptual, clinical, and empirical advances.

Organized for optimal clinical use, the book begins with a detailed analysis of the major models of couple therapy. Noted contributors present descriptions of strategies and techniques and link these to a basic theoretical framework. Included are entirely new in-depth chapters on problem- and solution-focused, cognitive-behavioral, object relational, and ego-analytic therapies, as well as chapters on Bowen family systems, emotionally focused, group, and preventive approaches. Ways in which influential theories have been refined in the last decade are clearly delineated.

Each chapter follows a uniform structure, presenting detailed discussions of:
* The theoretical model of couple distress/dysfunction
* Rationale for how the treatment approach follows from the model
* Overall strategy, including diagnostic/assessment procedures, typical goals, structure of therapy session, and hypothesized active ingredients of the approach
* The therapist's role in the therapeutic process and typical technical errors
* Specific strategies, including major techniques, common obstacles, and limitations of the approach
* Common clinical issues such as managing resistance, handling acute relationship distress, and dealing with termination

Chapters in Part II discuss issues of culture, gender, religion, race, and sexual orientation, exploring the ways deeply felt personal values in these areas can cause conflict between partners as well as problems in the therapeutic discourse. Also examined are ruptures of the relational bond and the facilitation of healthy divorce processes.

The conduct of couple therapy with psychiatric disorders is addressed in Part III. Each chapter considers:

* The usual diagnostic definition of the problem
* How relationship issues contribute to the (individual)
problem; and how individual problems contribute to
relationship discord
* Nondyadic factors that may play a role in the etiology or
maintenance of the disorder
* The limitations of a purely "relational therapy" approach
* Other interventions that can be used within the framework of
a relationally focused therapy.
Considered are depression, anxiety, personality disorders, alcoholism, eating disorders, and sexual desire disorders.

Authoritative and comprehensive, the Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy is a worthy successor to its highly acclaimed and widely adopted predecessor. Presenting a wealth of practical and theoretical information on the full range of couple therapy interventions, the work is invaluable for a variety of professionals, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, and nurses. It also serves as an excellent text for advanced courses in these areas.