The Oxford Handbook of Relationship Science and Couple Interventions

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Couple Therapy ◽  
Subsequent Treatment ◽  
Relationship Education ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Committed Relationships ◽  
Relationship Distress ◽  
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Applied Study

Marriage and other long-term committed relationships are an integral part of our lives and confer many benefits. Unfortunately, many couples experience significant relationship distress and about half of marriages end in divorce. Among those who stay married, a notable number of couples remain in stably, severely distressed marriages for years or even decades. Given the serious physical and psychological consequences of relationship distress and divorce for spouses and their children, it is clear that relationship science––the basic and applied study of relationship development, maintenance, and dysfunction––is of critical importance.The Oxford Handbook of Relationship Science and Couple Interventionsshowcases cutting-edge research in relationship science, including couple functioning, relationship education, and couple therapy. The book begins with the most current definitions of and classifications for relationship dysfunction, which are reflected in the most recent versions of theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-5)and theInternational Classification of Diagnoses (ICD-11). Next, the latest research on the biological, psychological, and interpersonal causes and correlates of couple dysfunction and subsequent treatment implications is presented. The latest findings regarding empirically supported prevention and treatment interventions for couple dysfunction are then presented, and diversity and cultural issues are discussed in the context of working with couples. The information contained in this handbook will benefit researchers who seek to understand relationship distress and design interventions to prevent and treat couple distress, and clinicians who are diagnosing, assessing, and treating couple dysfunction in their practices.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran T. Sullivan ◽  
Erika Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Functioning ◽  
Couple Therapy ◽  
International Classification Of Diseases ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Interpersonal Processes ◽  
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Couple Functioning ◽  
Classification Of Diseases ◽  
New Guidelines

Long-term committed intimate relationships such as marriage are an integral part of our lives and confer many benefits but many couples experience significant relationship distress and about half of all marriages end in divorce. The purpose of this edited volume is to showcase cutting-edge research on couple functioning and interventions, including the development of new guidelines for determining whether a given couple therapy is empirically supported, the relation between couple functioning and individual physical and psychological functioning (e.g., chronic pain, depression, anxiety), the role of genetics in interpersonal processes, best practices for the assessment, prevention, and treatment of couple dysfunction, and the relevance of couple functioning and couple therapy to the structure and utility of classification systems such as theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

Couple Interventions for Same-Sex Couples

2019 ◽  
pp. 97-114
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Pepping ◽  
W. Kim Halford ◽  
Anthony Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Minority Stress ◽  
Couple Therapy ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relationship Education ◽  
Heterosexual Couples ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
Future Research Directions

This chapter reviews the emerging field of couple interventions for same-sex couples. It outlines the evidence base for couple relationship education and couple therapy based on research with heterosexual couples. It reviews data pertaining to relationship stability and relationship satisfaction of same-sex couples and also the similarities and differences in the predictors of relationship outcomes between heterosexual and same-sex couples. The differences suggest modifications are required, including addressing the role of external influences on couple functioning, the role of dyadic coping to buffer effects of minority stress, non-monogamous relationships, and managing disclosure of one’s relationship. Currently, there is modest uptake of couple services among same-sex couples, and this chapter offers suggestions to enhance the relevance and inclusivity of couple interventions. It concludes by proposing a number of future research directions, including examining the efficacy of couple interventions for same-sex couples and evaluating innovations to increase same-sex couples’ access to services.

Violent Coercion in Intimate Relationships

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amie Langer Zarling ◽  
Rosaura Orengo-Aguayo ◽  
Erika Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Physical Violence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Committed Relationships ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Recent Treatment ◽  
Controlling Behaviors ◽  
Empirically Supported Interventions

This chapter defines violent coercion in romantic relationships as comprising threatening or controlling behaviors such as economic abuse and social isolation, dominance and intimidation, belligerence and humiliation, threats of physical violence, physical violence itself, and sexual violence. This type of coercion occurs in a broad range of intimate relationships—dating, cohabiting, engaged and newlywed couples, separated and divorced couples, and second and third marriages. Even mild and infrequent forms of violent coercion have negative consequences for victims, relationships, and children raised in these homes. There are few empirically supported interventions for violent coercion in committed relationships, and those that do exist are limited in their efficacy. This chapter reviews the wide variation in definitions of coercion in committed relationships, assesses the methods used to measure coercion in committed relationships, reviews traditional treatments and evaluates their efficacy, and delineates recent treatment advances and outline directions for future research.

Sociocultural Issues in Psychiatry

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
Junior Faculty ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Senior Faculty ◽  
Stress Theory ◽  
Cultural Challenges ◽  
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽  
Gender Minorities

This book explains fundamental concepts in cultural psychiatry using a case-based format and is geared toward clinicians and educators in the mental health fields. Whereas similar books have focused on providing guidelines for working clinically with specific populations, such as racial/ethnic or sexual/gender minorities, this book aims to expand the concept of culture as both multifactorial and dynamic, and to enhance knowledge and skills for translating theory into practice across diverse patient populations and clinical contexts. Chapters cover culture as a multidimensional construct; the way cultural issues have been treated in successive editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; global psychiatric epidemiology; social determinants of psychiatric illness; the checkered past of psychiatry as a profession; minority stress theory; explanatory models of mental illness; the roles that religion, spirituality, gender, and sexuality play in the psychiatric encounter; implicit bias; how to respond to patients who request a provider of a specific race or gender; handling cultural challenges; and teaching sociocultural psychiatry across the lifespan. The goal of the book is to educate mental health clinicians at all levels, whether trainees, junior faculty, or senior faculty engaged in lifelong learning.

What Every Therapist Needs to Know About Couple Therapy

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Kim Halford ◽  
Christopher A. Pepping
Keyword(s):  
Couple Therapy ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Couple Relationship ◽  
Couple Relationships ◽  
Art And Science ◽  
Relationship Distress ◽  
Relationship Problems ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis invited paper is a review of the significance of couple relationships to the practice of all therapists. The article begins with a summary of the evidence on the centrality of committed couple relationships to the lives and wellbeing of adults, and the association of the quality of the parents’ couple relationship on the wellbeing of children. We argue that the well-established reciprocal association between individual problems and couple relationship problems means that all therapists need to pay attention to how a couple relationship might be influencing a client's functioning, even if the relationship is not the presenting problem. There is an outline the evolution of current approaches to behavioural couple therapy, and the current state of the art and science of couple therapy. We present an analysis of the evidence for couple therapy as a treatment for relationship distress, as well as couple-based treatments for individual problems. This is followed by a description of the distinctive challenges in working with couples and how to address those challenges, and recommendations about how to address the needs of diverse couple relationships. Finally, we propose some core therapist competencies needed to work effectively with couples.

Treating Affair Couples: Clinical Considerations and Initial Findings

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald H. Baucom ◽  
Kristina C. Gordon ◽  
Douglas K. Snyder ◽  
David C. Atkins ◽  
Andrew Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Couple Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Specific Intervention ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy ◽  
Current Article ◽  
Clinical Considerations

Infidelity can have devastating effects on couples’ relationships. Not only are couples typically confused and uncertain about how to proceed, but couple therapists also report that treating infidelity is one of their greatest clinical challenges. In the current article, we present a conceptual model of response to infidelity with a corresponding infidelity-specific, couple-based intervention. This intervention incorporates interventions from cognitive-behavioral, insight-oriented, trauma-based, and forgiveness approaches to working with couples. In addition to this intervention created specifically for treating infidelity, we discuss how existing, empirically supported couple therapies such as traditional behavioral couple therapy (TBCT) and integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT) approach the treatment of infidelity. Finally, we present preliminary findings from two small treatment studies that provide initial, encouraging findings for the utility of the infidelity-specific intervention as well as TBCT and IBCT for treating infidelity.

Cultural Considerations in Evidence-Based Couple Therapy

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Sevier ◽  
Leah Brew ◽  
Jean C. Yi
Keyword(s):  
Couple Therapy ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Cultural Assumptions ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Cultural Considerations ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Empirically Supported Therapies ◽  
Evidence Based Treatments ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Diverse Groups

This chapter considers issues of culture in couple therapy while examining the current movement toward empirically supported therapies (ESTs). Culture is distinguished from the related but distinct concepts of race, ethnicity, and nationality, and the value of studying culture directly is discussed. Several concerns and criticisms of empirically supported therapy criteria related to diverse couples are presented including a lack of inclusion in studies, the valuing of internal over external validity, and unexamined assumptions of universality. Cultural assumptions behind evidence-based treatments are examined with hypotheses about cultural congruency for diverse groups. Existing scholarly works on cultural aspects of the therapy approaches are highlighted. The clear need to build on existing theoretical and case-based knowledge related to culture in empirical ways is discussed.

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