Premium
COVID Couple Therapy: Telehealth and Somatic Action Techniques
Author(s) -
Lord Susan A.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1002/anzf.1487
Subject(s) - dialogical self , telehealth , futures contract , pandemic , covid-19 , action (physics) , perspective (graphical) , work (physics) , resistance (ecology) , face (sociological concept) , psychology , sociology , public relations , computer science , social psychology , medicine , political science , business , engineering , disease , telemedicine , social science , artificial intelligence , law , ecology , pathology , biology , health care , quantum mechanics , mechanical engineering , physics , finance , infectious disease (medical specialty)
In March of 2020, during the global COVID‐19 pandemic, therapists quickly transitioned to telehealth platforms to provide their services. Teletherapy, while subject to some constraints, presents unique opportunities to work creatively with couples, particularly during these uncertain times. This paper offers a case study of work with a couple using systemic, developmental attachment, dialogical, and somatic trauma theories. Action techniques, including doubling, ideal futures creation, and a foam roller trust exercise are employed to facilitate change processes as couples face the chaos and unknowns of the pandemic and the difficulties that have become triggered between them. These exercises help to open perspective, increase awareness, and lower resistance to change. Couples are able to physically enact and metabolise alternative realities while discharging excess energies in familiar surroundings.