Reviews and gives an overview of counseling techniques covering 10 topic areas related to marriage and family functioning that are used in assessment and diagnosis. Examines assessment and its relationship to diagnosis, with special reference to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual series. (JPS)

Identifies and operationalizes construct of attachment injury, an injury that occurs when one partner violates the expectation that the other will offer comfort in times of danger or distress. This incident becomes a clinically recurring theme and creates an impasse that blocks relationship repair in couples therapy. (BF)

Couples with chronically ill children are particularly at risk for experiencing marital distress. The study presented here is a 2-year follow-up of a randomized control trial that assessed the efficacy of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) in decreasing marital distress in a sample of couples with a chronically ill child. Thirteen couples with…

Marriage and Family Therapy is an increasingly popular treatment that was almost unknown 50 years ago. Family Therapy has been multidisciplinary from the beginning, drawing practitioners from social work, psychology, psychiatry, nursing, and pastoral and mental health counseling. It is often difficult to get a whole family to arrange schedules so…

This book provides a comprehensive overview of a number of popular approaches to family therapy, pointing out the similarities and differences in various approaches. It opens with a brief overview of family therapy models. The following eight chapters discuss eight separate models of therapy: (1) Communication/Validation Family Therapy; (2)…

Equal voting rights in marriages enhance the relationship, but it is more difficult to manage, and consequently, there are many failures. Solutions offered include: (1) education as information-giving, often not acted upon; (2) therapy, which can come too late to be effective; and (3) marriage enrichment which applies new knowledge preventively.…

Describes a method of measuring counselor response style in marriage counseling. Counseling students (N=11) made two audiotapes of counseling sessions before and after a course in counseling relationships. Results showed an increase in responses to couple concerns and a decrease in response to individual concerns after the course. (JAC)

Treated a sample of 77 distressed middle- and lower-class couples using conjoint therapy. Couple and therapist therapy behavior were assessed. A variety of sex and social class differences were found, suggesting that no one marital therapy technique will be appropriate for both sexes and different SES backgrounds. (JAC)

Describes programs for family counseling which use psychological-educational and skills training methods to remediate individual and family problems or enhance family life. The six articles discuss client-centered skills training, behavioral approaches, cognitive behavioral marital therapy, Adlerian parent education, and couple communication. (JAC)

Reviewed experimental evidence for the efficacy of videotape and verbal feedback in behavioral couple therapy. Concluded that research does not permit definitive conclusions concerning either procedure. Evidence indicates that it is difficult to ascertain just how the communication behaviors of happy and distressed couples differ. (Author/JAC)

Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR) provides systematic information in five types of intimacy: emotional, social, sexual, intellectual and recreational. PAIR can be used with couples in marital therapy and enrichment groups. (Author)

Considers the problems arising from cultural and religious differences in Jewish-non-Jewish marriage. Treatment requires dealing with family systems dynamics while educating the couple about the role of cultural difference in their relationship. Treatment should help couple view their differences flexibly as they blend their cultures. (RJM)

Reviews the gambling literature and the phases of the pathological gambler's career. Examines counseling approaches that have been used in the treatment of gambling, including psychotherapy, conjoint marital therapy, minimal interventions, behavioral counseling, and practical approaches to the treatment of adolescent problem gamblers. (Author/GCP)

Describes the process of coaching individuals in their efforts to change themselves in the context of their family systems. Coaching begins by training clients to become observers of their role in family patterns of behavior. Coaching then moves to bring behavior more in line with their deepest beliefs, even if it means violating family norms. (BF)

Integrates the object relations concept of projective identification and the systemic concept of marital dances to develop a more powerful model for working with more difficult and distressed couples. Suggests how object relations techniques can be used to interrupt projective identifications and resolve conflict on intrapsychic level so the…