Premium
Marital Therapy — Practical Approaches to Longstanding Problems *
Author(s) -
White Michael
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
australian journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0156-8779
DOI - 10.1002/j.1467-8438.1984.tb00077.x
Subject(s) - closeness , marital therapy , presentation (obstetrics) , psychology , intervention (counseling) , psychotherapist , resolution (logic) , computer science , medicine , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , mathematics , surgery , mathematical analysis
This paper details a practical guide to the therapy of certain longstanding marital problems. Bateson's (1972) notions of schismogenesis and restraint provide the basis for an understanding of these problems and their presentation for therapy in terms of a classification of processes. A series of hypotheses, derived from this classification of processes, is developed for highly competitive marriages, dominant/submissive marriages and for marriages with closeness/distance problems. These hypotheses enable the therapist to avoid inadvertently participating with couples in ways that perpetuate these problems. Intervention procedures that enable the therapist to participate with couples in ways that favour a more mutually satisfying resolution of such problems are discussed.