Addresses issues pertinent to training Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) students to develop the skills needed to become Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) professionals. Describes qualifications for becoming EAP professional. Suggests how skills may be taught within the framework of an academically based MFT training program. (Author/ABL)

Compares assumptions and practices emerging from family systems and feminist counseling. Examines nature of problem definitions; notions about power and appropriate sex roles in relationships; and characteristics of therapeutic relationship. Concludes that feminist perspective has potential for improving marital and family counseling. Suggests…

Investigated Caring Days procedure for marital therapy to determine its potential for positive change with nondistressed married couples. Randomly assigned 32 married couples to either experimental group employing Caring Days technique or to attention control group. Experimental group showed significant positive changes compared to control group…

Notes that clinicians are increasingly consulted by couples whose conflicts arise from or are exacerbated by dual-career relationship. Sees therapy with these couples as potentially greatly aided when treatment is tailored to unique needs of their relational system. Describes protocol for tailoring treatment based on comprehensive,…

Describes the five largest psychotherapy occupations (psychiatrist, clinical/counseling psychologist, clinical social worker, marriage and family therapist, clinical mental health counselor) and looks at training requirements, types of practices, trends, and related occupations. Lists professional associations and references for further…

Describes investigation examining effects of caring for elderly parent with dementia on marital satisfaction. Suggests changes in women's marital satisfaction were associated with variations in husbands' emotional support and hindrance of caregiving effort which were affected by perceptions that caregiving interfered with wives' performance of…

Describes the reflecting team model as a group learning experience for counselor trainees. Approach permits trainees to give and receive immediate feedback on perceptions and learn about intervention strategies for working with couples. Discusses evaluation of the model utilizing The Family Therapist Trainee Rating Scale. (Author/CRR)

Summarizes trends in theory and research on marriage and family therapy over the past decade. Finds particularly noteworthy the debates over the "new epistemology" and the feminist critique of family therapy. On basis of identified trends, makes recommendations for research in the 1990s. (Author/NB)

Conducted three studies of in-session changes in emotionally focused couples therapy. Found that couples' conflict interaction at end of treatment was more affiliative and interdependent than at beginning of treatment and that peak session conflict interaction was deeper in level of experience and more affiliative than interaction in poor session…

Notes that family life educators share same ethical concerns with other regulated mental health professionals, but practice of family life education is not guided by code of ethics. Discusses reasons for this absence. Considers unique practice issues created by educational model and group context in which services are delivered. Proposes…

Questions adequacy with which insight-oriented marital therapy (IOMT) and behavioral marital therapy (BMT) were represented in Snyder, Wills, and Grady-Fletcher's (1991) comparative treatment study. Contends that BMT treatment manual fails to include recent innovations in behavioral technology and IOMT manual includes many skills integral to BMT.…

Briefly describes Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and explains Relationship Enhancement (RE) marital and family therapy. Provides rationale for understanding BPD as manifestation of lack of differentiation in intimate relationships, followed by explanation of how RE fosters differentiation between partners. Includes case study. (Author/NB)

Presents basic information concerning normal aging that therapists need to understand sources of conflict and distress in older or caregiving couples. Describes unique aspects of assessment and intervention with older couples. Examines marital satisfaction across life span, including factors that alter marital functioning, developmental tasks and…

Provides practical review of selected methods of counseling from constructivist orientation: use of repertory grid technique, metaphorical constructions, family transaction procedure, system "bow ties," and various enactment procedures. Provides examples of methods in counseling contexts and further references to additional illustrations…

Surveyed 598 marriage/family practitioners to examine use of standardized assessment instruments in practice. Responses from 188 clinicians who reported use of tests revealed that 147 different standardized tests were used in marriage and family therapy practice. Test use was most frequent for treatment planning purposes, except in premarital area…