Intended to help speech communication professionals become involved in developing, implementing, and evaluating marital or family enrichment programs, this booklet discusses the theory and practice of using marital enrichment programs to increase family harmony. The first section contains an overview of selected enrichment programs, as well as…

Activities commonly associated with outdoor adventure education can be used effectively in therapy for couples. The adventure education concepts of risk, trust, fear, anxiety, dependence/independence, problem solving, and intimacy are all dealt with in therapy and enrichment experiences for couples. While the outdoor environment has a tremendous…

This paper considers the common association between marital problems and depression and describes the cognitive and behavioral factors which are common to these two problems. A set of cognitive behavioral interventions is presented, a treatment procedure which addresses cognitive and behavioral factors at the intrapersonal and interpersonal levels…

This article proposes an access program to human services for the married student population that can be coordinated by the college student personnel worker. (PD)

Describes an eight-session course in marriage communication offered by the counseling department of a university. Each weekly meeting focused on a melodramatic script which dealt with a single type of marital conflict. Graduate students served as group leaders. Results were positive for both trainees and couples. (HMV)

After describing a social learning formulation of the male alcoholic's marriage, this paper reviews the few studies of behavioral marital therapy (BMT) for alcoholics and their wives. Although none of these studies are as rigorous as one might wish and many of them are merely case studies, a review of the literature shows that behavioral marital…

Reported is a preliminary paper on research currently in progress to investigate the effectiveness of written paradoxical and linear messages given to couples within the context of marital enrichment. There are several reasons for incorporating written communication into clinical practice, e.g., they are more difficult to ignore, forget or distort…

In discussing sexual behavior as part of and as a result of the total personality, it is appropriate to examine all aspects of a person's handwriting rather than examining only lower looped components in evaluating sexual disturbances. The development of sexual mores and sex roles in our culture from the early Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews through…

The Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI) is a potential instrument for differentiating couples with specific sexual distress from those with more general marital complaints. Couples (N=45) expressing primary complaints of dissatisfaction with their sexual relationship and couples (N=45) expressing primary complaints of generalized marital distress…

This guide is intended to familiarize therapists with the scope of marital difficulties and the range of techniques found useful in dealing with them. While it is tempting to think that proven techniques can be matched to specific marital problems, the literature cautions that predicting outcome in therapy research depends not only on the…

Men and women see themselves as contributing different types of resources to relationships. Women feel they contribute particularistic resources--resources directed toward particular persons; men feel they contribute universalistic resources--resources directed toward any occupant of some position. Men and women have accumulated very different…

This study traces the development of research in marriage counseling to discover whether generalizations concerning development in a scientific field also apply to research in marriage counseling. It is hypothesized that it is possible to identify development in a field along the lines of productivity of research, development of accretive studies,…

"Feeling happy" focuses on the syndrome of self-indulgence, self-actualization or self-fulfillment as antagonistic to the survival of marital agreement. Inspite of the obvious redeeming qualities of either spouse the unhappy partner opts for divorce. The article posits the familial advantages of responsiblity and commitment and reviews the older…

This paper explores family aspects of sexual issues demonstrating that when sexual dysfunction represents the distillation of a couple's relationship to their own parents, successful resolution of their own sexual relationship may be a crucial first step in rebuilding family harmony and providing a culture of intimacy for their children. (Author)

This paper raises issues and questions which repeatedly confront the sex therapist rather than the patient. Issues raised are: conflict in values; the impotent male; masturbation; nonorgasmic females; and the philosophical approach to therapy of women therapists influenced by the women's movement. (NG)