Handbook of Couples Therapy

505 Pages·2005·3.641 MB·English

by  Michele Harway

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Handbook of
Couples Therapy
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Handbook of
Couples Therapy
Edited by
Michele Harway
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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This book is printed on acid-free paper. ➇
Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Handbook of couples therapy / edited by Michele Harway.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-471-44408-1 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Marital psychotherapy—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Harway, Michele.
RC488.5.H3263 2005
616.89′1562—dc22
2004042252
Printed in the United States of America.
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Acknowledgments
COMPLETING A VOLUME like this is accompanied by a variety of feel-
ings. The main one is relief at being able to take the manuscript off
my desk, although knowing how busy I get, my desk will probably
stay clean for a grand total of about 50 seconds. Closely following the re-
lief is the sense of gratitude that I feel toward a myriad of people who
were involved in helping me complete this project. I first want to thank
Dr. Florence Kaslow who encouraged me to develop this edited volume and
who was instrumental in convincing Wiley to publish it. Dr. Kaslow has al-
ways been a wonderful role model and professional cheerleader for me.
The staff of John Wiley & Sons, particularly Isabel Pratt and Peggy
Alexander (who stepped in when the original editor changed positions), are
much appreciated.
During the time I was developing the concept behind the book and invit-
ing chapter authors, I was going through a difficult professional transition
and I want to thank all of my friends at the Phillips Graduate Institute who
were my sounding boards and dear, “family members.” I won’t mention
you all by name, but I think you know who you are, and I hope you know
that I care about you deeply.
Since joining the faculty at Antioch University, Santa Barbara, I have
found a wonderfully supportive group of colleagues and new friends. I
want to particularly thank Dr. Catherine Radecki-Bush who tolerated my
brief moments of insanity as I completed this task. Cathy also was helpful
tomeinmywork by asking me to teach a class on couples therapy, knowing
perhaps that preparing for the class would crystallize some important rele-
vant ideas.
Finally, I would like to thank the many couples I have been honored to
work with clinically over the years. I have learned so much from you!
And to my husband Bruce Antman who has always maintained that any
relationship is salvageable as long as both members of the couple are will-
ing to do whatever it takes to make it work, I say, “I agree.”
MICHELEHARWAY, PHD
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Contents
About the Contributors ix
1. Setting the Stage for Working with Couples 1
Michele Harway
SECTIONI LIFECYCLESTAGES
2. Premarital Counseling from the PAIRS Perspective 7
Lori H. Gordon, Robin Rose Temple, and Donald W. Adams
3. The First Years of Marital Commitment 28
William C. Nichols
4. Couples with Young Children 44
Linda Morano Lower
5. Couples with Adolescents 61
C. Haydee Mas and James F. Alexander
6. Therapy with Older Couples: Love Stories—The Good,
the Bad, and the Movies 80
Thomas H. Peake and Angela E. Steep
SECTIONII THEORETICALPERSPECTIVESONWORKINGWITHCOUPLES
7. Bowen Family Systems Theory as Feminist Therapy 103
Louise Bordeaux Silverstein
8. Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy 119
Terence Patterson
9. Object Relations Couple Therapy 141
David E. Scharff and Yolanda de Varela
10. Narrative Therapy with Couples: Promoting Liberation from
Constraining Influences 157
Lynne V. Rosen and Charley Lang
11. EFT: An Integrative Contemporary Approach 179
Brent Bradley and Susan M. Johnson
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viii CONTENTS
12. Strategic and Solution-Focused Couple Therapy 194
Stephen Cheung
13. Integrative Healing Couples Therapy: A Search for
Self and Each Other 211
Patricia Pitta
14. Feminist and Contextual Work 228
Roberta L. Nutt
SECTIONIII SPECIALISSUESFACEDBYCOUPLES
15. Managing Emotional Reactivity in Couples Facing
Illness: Smoothing Out the Emotional Roller Coaster 253
William H. Watson and Susan H. McDaniel
16. Treating Couples with Sexual Abuse Issues 272
Michele Harway and Ellen Faulk
17. Working with Couples Who Have Experienced
Physical Aggression 289
Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Kahni Clements, and Coreen Farris
18. Couples and Addiction 313
Mark Stanton
19. Infidelity: Theory and Treatment 337
Don-David Lusterman
20. Religious and Spiritual Issues in Couples Therapy 352
Ilene Serlin
21. Working with Same-Sex Couples 370
Daniel J. Alonzo
22. Treating Couples across the Socioeconomic Spectrum 386
Florence W. Kaslow
23. Divorcing Couples 405
Joy K. Rice
24. What the Research Tells Us 431
Sally D. Stabb
25. Some Concluding Thoughts about Couples and
Couples Therapy 457
Michele Harway
Author Index 461
Subject Index 475
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About the Contributors
Donald W. Adams, PhD, earned his doctorate in clinical psychology
from Duke University. After three years as director of Children’s
Service in a rural North Carolina Mental Health Center and an-
other three years as director of Psychological Services at Dorothea Dix
Hospital Inpatient Adolescent Treatment Program, he began, in 1981, full
time private practice in Cary, North Carolina. Dr. Adams specialized in
playtherapy and taught seminars and conducted conference workshops on
child psychotherapy in the 1980s. His practice has been consistently ori-
ented toward the healthy adjustment of children and families. He has been
activeinthe North Carolina Psychological Association and served as presi-
dent in 1995/1996. He and his wife, Jo, a psychiatric nurse specialist, were
trained in PAIRS in 1993. He refocused much of his professional energy to-
ward treating troubled relationships and teaching relationship skills. He
has taught many aspects of PAIRS and has been active in developing and
refining PAIRS programs. He is currently the vice president of the PAIRS
Foundation and serves on the executive board and steering committee of
PAIRS. Dr. Adams co-authored a chapter on sensuality and sexuality in
Building Intimate Relationships.
James F. Alexander, PhD, is the progenitor (with B. V. Parsons) of func-
tional family therapy (FFT), a nationally and internationally acclaimed
and empirically demonstrated intervention model for juvenile delinquents,
oppositional and conduct-disordered youth, and substance abusing youth.
Since 1968, he has been on the faculty at the University of Utah. He is the
2001 recipient of the Distinguished Award for Lifetime Contributions to
Family Therapy Research of the American Association for Marriage and
Family Therapy. Dr. Alexander is the author of over 90 chapters and refer-
eed journal articles, two books, and over 150 convention presentations and
academic colloquia. He has also presented at over 300 national and interna-
tional clinical training workshops.
Daniel J. Alonzo, MA,is a member of the core faculty at Phillips Graduate In-
stitute in Encino, California. He is a member of the Society for the Scientific
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