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Critical Interaction Therapy: Couples Therapy in Combat‐Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Author(s) -
JOHNSON DAVID READ,
FELDMAN SUSAN,
LUBIN HADAR
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1995.00401.x
Subject(s) - spouse , family therapy , perspective (graphical) , psychology , psychotherapist , posttraumatic stress , psychological intervention , narrative , family systems , event (particle physics) , clinical psychology , psychiatry , developmental psychology , sociology , linguistics , philosophy , artificial intelligence , anthropology , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics
There is a need for family therapy interventions that are specific to the conditions found in families of traumatized people such as combat veterans. In these families, the historically “real” event of the trauma often continues to exert influence on the family system despite collusive arrangements that serve to keep it hidden. In families of combat veterans, a situation develops whereby the veteran becomes triangulated with a dead buddy without the spouse's knowledge. The discrepancy between past and present emerges in what we call the critical interaction between the spouses. This article outlines a method of couples therapy that attempts to demystify this critical interaction, and begins to integrate the discrepant narratives of each spouse. The establishment of a nascent mutuality of perspective within the couple releases energies that can be directed toward support rather than symptom‐formation in the family system.