Conducted qualitative exploration of therapeutic process occurring in solution-focused marital therapy session. Through intense examination of the communications of therapist, wife, and husband using conversation analysis, nine categories of linguistic strategies used by therapist in pursuit of solution-focused conversation were developed.…

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…

Discusses outcome and process research on couple therapy and integrates articles in journal's special section on couples and couples therapy into the discussion. Discussion of strengths and weaknesses of various designs concludes that within-model comparisons have been more productive in producing knowledge than between-model comparisons. Includes…

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…

Presents three supervision modalities applicable to training marital and family counselors: live supervision, delayed review supervision (audiotape and videotape), and supervision through verbal reports. Discusses goals, supervisory considerations, advantages, and disadvantages of each modality. Concludes that key in using modalities is to…

Introduces a creative diagnostic tool, developed and clinically applied in individual, marital, and family therapy. The tool is based on the clients' creation of a family album in the form of a collage. It enables the therapist to touch the inner theater of the client, as well as to understand the interpersonal theater. (Author/MKA)

Recent research reports that marriage and family clinicians describe the use of standardized assessment as of little importance. However this contradicts the potential advantages of the use of standardized measures. This contrast may be explained by the hypothesis that students use what they are taught, thus promoting a review of assessment course…

States that current literature suggests that dreams are seldom used by marriage and family therapists, yet dreams can be powerful tools in therapeutic treatment. Includes clinical examples that demonstrate the effective use of dreams in marriage and family therapy. Discusses the interface between dream interpretation and systems therapy. (MKA)

Discusses Rehearsals for Growth (RfG), a method of using drama in the service of marital and family psychotherapy. It focuses on enhancing and developing skills that promote good relationship functioning and offering techniques for changing the stories that are cocreated about self and relationship. Describes games and exercises that illustrate…

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)

A randomized clinical trial compared the effects of traditional behavioral couple therapy (TBCT) and integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT) on 134 seriously and chronically distressed married couples, stratified into moderately and severely distressed groups. Couples in IBCT made steady improvements in satisfaction throughout the course of…

Counselors working with couples who are planning to marry come from a broad array of interdisciplinary backgrounds. The largest portion of this type of counseling is currently provided by clergy. This one volume handbook and training manual for professionals presents a coherent approach for the practice of counseling prior to marriage that draws…

The strategy of quid pro quo negotiation as it is applied to couple therapy and taught as a problem solving method to couples with unsatisfactory relationships is examined and the theoretical basis for the clinical application of quid pro quo and its potentials as a therapeutic tool presented. (Author)