Counselors whose specialty is marriage and family counseling develop a theoretical and research base and acquire countless hours of experience upon which to base their interventions. Most counselors and other helping professionals whose specialty is in another area do as well as they can lacking specific theoretical concepts and experience from…

Explores advantages and disadvantages of behavioral marital therapy. Features of behavioral marital therapy implicated as important in the consideration of sex role issues include underlying assumptions of egalitarianism, external causality, and orientation toward action as well as specific procedures such as goal setting, behavioral exchange and…

Contains six articles illustrating techniques used in working with adult dyads at the Marriage Council of Philadelphia. Describes cognitive therapy, values analysis, and individual interview methods. Discusses effects of rape on couple adjustment, interrelationships of sexual adjustment and marital satisfaction, and a 20-year longitudinal study of…

Examines the development of standards for accreditation and licensure by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). Presents a detailed description of the requirements for clinical membership. Suggests the American Personnel and Guidance Association might learn from AAMFT in designing accreditation programs. (Author/JAC)

One of the major polarizations in marriages of workaholic husbands is their pursuit of the "Great American Dream" while their wives are left to pursue the "Petty Realities of Life." Couples must learn to negotiate realistic and functional objectives for themselves, without avoiding the issues. (JAC)

The 32-item Attitudes about Romance and Mate Selection Scale (ARMSS) was developed to measure constraining beliefs about mate selection. Results of factor analysis showed few gender differences in the degree to which constraining beliefs about mate selection are held by single young adults. However, significant differences were found when age,…

The study of causal attributions at the interpersonal level has been an integral part of attribution research. Unfortunately most attribution research has involved persons unfamiliar with each other. The marital relationship is an example of the need for understanding causal attributions among intimates. A striking feature of marital interaction…

This paper provides a review of the articles and documents on the topic of marriage counseling, as identified by a computer search of the ERIC data base from November 1966 through December 1979. The materials address the following topics: (1) the history of marriage counseling; (2) counseling techniques including conjoint family therapy, cotherapy…

Offers a conceptual approach to resistance in marital therapy. Aimed at beginning marital clinicians, provides an understanding of the natural existence of resistance to therapeutic change. Presents a model which can aid the clinician in assessing each individual's willingness to improve throughout therapy. (Author)

Presents the dynamics, implications and treatment of extramarital sex. Discusses historical and cultural perspectives, various types of infidelity experiences, marital styles as they relate to infidelity, and family therapy implications. Offers recommendations for treatment and a brief consideration of extramarital relationships as a healthy…

Presents a discussion of issues which may be unique in therapy with divorcing clergy, focusing on the overlap between the minister's marital and occupational roles, and the extent to which such overlap influences the divorce and adjustment process. Special concerns of the divorced clergy are described. (Author)

Presents techniques for concealing ignorance from clients and colleagues and making correct excuses for failure to them. Provides information for the therapist who is ignorant about how to change a marriage relationship and wishes to sound knowledgeable and appear to know what s/he is doing. (Author/BEF)

Presents a conceptual framework for the family's reorganization after a divorce, viewed as a crisis of family transition. Social workers must be prepared to help a couple with the complex process of terminating spousal roles but continuing and redefining parental roles, which is central to family redefinition. (Author)

Delineates and examines the psychodynamics of the paranoid wife syndrome and its concomitant characteristic intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamic phenomena. Diagnostic indications and treatment modalities and strategies are noted. (Author)

In this article, we present an analysis and comparison of published articles in the "Journal of Marital and Family Therapy" (JMFT) between 1990-1995 and 1996-2000. This study focused on trends in author gender, highest degree, and professional affiliation, and article content on issues of cultural and family diversity (race/ethnicity, class,…