Discusses implications of dramatic increase in number of elderly for the marital and family therapist. Claims therapist will be dealing with the complex problems of a population who traditionally have underutilized services and have been viewed with negative bias. Features method of "exaggerated engagement" and gives brief attention to general…

Presents a systematic approach to enriching marital relationships. The history and current status of marital enrichment is reviewed. An Adlerian approach to marital enrichment is described. Applications of the program in enrichment groups, marriage therapy and couple groups are included. (Author)

Suggests not an exclusive focus on emotion in couples therapy, but rather, the inclusion of emotion into an integrative approach which involves affect, cognition, and behavior in a systemic framework. Affect has too long been neglected both as an agent of therapeutic change and as a direct target of change. (Author/ABL)

Marriage Encounter is a two-day marriage enrichment session sponsored by several religious organizations. This paper attempts to describe one proceeding of a weekend from a participant-observation perspective, offering objective insight and critical discussion. (Author)

Responds to previous articles by Avis, Kaufman, and Bograd on role of marital and family therapists in dealing with family violence among clients. Comments on presentation style of earlier articles and then discusses points of agreement and disagreement with each of the three authors. Concludes by urging therapists to learn more so they can…

Presents Ethics Model of Marriage and Family Counseling and its underlying assumptions. Analyzes six basic counseling values in relation to microsystems of counselor and client, mesosystem of counseling process, and societal value context as the macrosystem. Utilizes discussion of suicide to apply these values to the model. Includes 17 references.…

Responds to previous article by Waring et al. on controlled trial of cognitive marital therapy in severe marital discord. Focuses on suggestion of possibility that self-disclosure of personal constructs does not enhance marital intimacy. Contends that important reason why cognitive marital therapy did not prove more effective for subjects was lack…

Notes that working with marital and family problems complicates the concept of therapeutic responsibility. Discusses several societal contributors to ethical dilemmas in contemporary family therapy and summarizes an ecological framework for therapy on the basis of which a profile of the ethical family therapist is derived. (Author/NB)

Asserts that therapists perceived as having strong spiritual orientation face challenges, especially when one spouse views him/herself as "spiritually one-up" and wants therapist to form spiritually based coalition against other. Describes dilemmas that therapists may face when clients perceive them as having spiritual expertise and presents…

Interviews Robert Smith, executive director of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (IAMFC), a division of the American Counseling Association. He has been involved with the IAMFC from its beginning and is in a position to provide both a historical perspective and a vision of the division's future. (Author/MKA)

Conceptualizes intimate experience within a developmental, or epigenetic, framework of relational systems, views it from an evolutionary and historical perspective, and considers it in the light of hypotheses about gender differences. (Author/ABB)

Presents a theoretical model that focuses attention on the multiple arenas of life that are disrupted by divorce, the emotional stages of divorce, and the interpersonal dynamics of separating couples. Discusses the implications of these factors for strategically planning and carrying out the mediation process. (Author/ABB)

Theories of therapeutic change involve unacknowledged judgments about how people should lead their lives. Greenberg and Johnson offer a model that should be appealing to many couples. However, the model's sweeping prescriptions for how marital therapists should proceed, and what effects they should seek, might best be interspersed with caveats…

Spouses frequently depict changes in important aspects of marital relationships as threats to the permanence of those relationships. However, the effects on permanence are better explained in terms of the partners' viewpoints or ways of interpreting the changes. Six common polarities of viewpoint illustrate this point. (Author)

This paper incorporates relevant knowledge about adult development into an understanding of marital conflict, suggests hypotheses to be explored in the marital evaluation and subsequent therapy, and illustrates the concepts presented with case material. (Author)