Presents the Marriage and Family Awareness Program, a three-stage model for Christian counseling, consisting of a James Dobson film, parent groups, and follow-up counseling. The program was offered to over 100 persons in Texas churches. Feedback from participants was positive. Elements of each session are described. (JAC)

Presents an integrative interpersonal-intrapsychic model of dysfunctional marital conflict. Reviews research support for the model. Discusses the therapeutic applications of the model and illustrates with a clinical example. (Author)

Describes the Systems Marriage Enrichment Program which was developed from the systems concepts of circular causality, the identification of predictable interaction patterns, and the adaptive and homeostatic mechanisms. Presents a protocol process consisting of five phases with goals and techniques. (Author)

Notes a pattern in marital therapy wherein losses are not mourned or shared; instead one spouse uses the other for externalization of internal conflict. Explains how loss tends to be experienced as disenchantment with the spouse. Describes the conjoint format that can facilitate mourning and the sharing of losses. (Author)

Reviews the literature on reciprocity counseling. Evidence is presented for the usefulness of reciprocity counseling with young, well-educated, White clients with slight to moderate marital distress. Research into the effectiveness of several components of reciprocity counseling including contracting, problem solving training, and feedback is…

In-depth interviews with individuals who had experienced marital infidelity revealed a three-stage process following disclosure of an affair. The process starts with an "emotional roller coaster" and moves through a "moratorium" before efforts at trust building are recognized. Implications for the literature on forgiveness and the process of…

Analyzed process of change in "best" sessions of Emotionally Focused Marital Therapy (EFT). Rated client performance in therapy on depth of experiencing and quality of interpersonal interactions. Noted occurrences of particular change events arising from theoretical principles of EFT. Confirmed that higher levels of experiencing and more…

The underlying concept of this publication is that homework, which is merely a specific type of therapy technique, can be helpful to counselors and educators. It contains ideas from psychiatrists; psychologists; counselors; social workers; and family therapists who use homework techniques to enhance therapy with adults, children, and adolescents;…

Discusses the politics of marital therapy, using behavioral marital therapy as an illustrative model. Views marital therapy as inherently political with therapists continuously adopting political postures unknowingly. Inadvertent consequences of this insensitivity to the political context of their work are to reinforce traditional values, many…

Examines the success of (N=13) premarital counseling programs. Reviews programs which outlined standardized intervention procedures and utilized dependent measures to assess the program's effectiveness. Premarital counseling programs were generally found to be atheoretical in their approach to intervention, loosely designed, and nonspecific as to…

Presents an operational definition of intimacy and reviews evidence that a lack of intimacy is associated with nonpsychotic emotional illness, marital maladjustment, and family dysfunction. Describes and illustrates a technique, cognitive self-disclosure, which facilitates marital intimacy. Discusses the role of self-disclosure, modeling, and…

The development of a classification system for analysis of specific verbal marital communications utilizing videotaped Stimulus-Modeling procedures is described. Findings reveal specific marital verbal behaviors can be operationalized and reliably measured. The results indicate the need to combine modern technology with modeling procedures in…

In an effort to help practitioners deal with the great volume of current literature in the field of marriage and family therapy, this compilation attempts to present clinically relevant material in a user-friendly format. Topics selected for inclusion are believed to be up-to-date, informative, and clinically meaningful--as well as theoretically…

Following a brief review of literature on marital and family treatment for alcohol problems, this paper describes two types of marital therapy frequently used with alcoholics and presents a brief overview of results from a study in progress comparing the two modalities. Behavioral marital therapy uses communication skills training, contracting,…

This paper summarizes the research on the factors influencing marital satisfaction, selected research on locus of control, research on the measurement of locus of control, and the recent research on locus of control and marital satisfaction. It analyzes this research from the standpoint of criticisms of the research on locus of control and makes…