Main description:

First published in 1996, this enlightening book about facilitating therapeutic change within the couple relationship opens with a transcript of one of a series of lectures by Virginia Satir. It presents readers with Satir's observations - observations that show the difference between thinking with systems in mind and thinking linearly - of process, interrelatedness and attitudes. Readers will find these and the observations of contributors that follow full of practical application potential.

In this title the editor brings together contributors who show how to affect change in couples by explaining dynamics of the male/female relationship and by expanding upon the roles of the therapist. Specifically, contributors give readers information about:

Male/female relationships over a 30, 000-year history and how history may have affected present day relationships between men and women

Therapists as merely resource providers who facilitate self-discovery and self-solutions

The necessity of marital therapy in maintaining stability and change from both systemic-interpersonal and intrapersonal perspectives

Psychodynamic, affective and insight-oriented, marital therapy

The consultative conversation model and its relationship to the change process in couples therapy

Fostering change of psychological (emotional and verbal) abuse

Why women leave abusive relationships

The use of a specific physical posture for assessing a couple's interactive style

Therapists who work with couples will keep Couples and Change within reach and refer to it often as they help couples develop more healthy, satisfying relationships.

Contents:

1. Virginia Satir Ways of Viewing the World: Explanation of Events, Attitude Toward Change 2. Barbara Jo Brothers Styles of Thinking: Comment on Virginia Satir's 'Ways of Viewing the World' 3. Wade Luquet To What End: Couples Therapy 4. Norman F. Shub Are We Running Away from Change? 5. David I. Perry Comment on 'Are We Running Away from Change?' 6. Arthur C. Bohart An Experiential View of Change in Couples Therapy 7. E. Wayne Hill Stability and Change: Understanding Anxiety in Marital Therapy from an Attachment Theory Perspective 8. Jeffrey Bakely Couples Therapy Outcome Research: A Review 9. Alfons Vansteenwegen Individual and Relational Changes Seven Years After Couples Therapy 10. Diane T. Gottlieb and Charles D. Gottlieb Consultative Conversations: The Change Process in Couples Therapy 11. Charles Ansell Comment on 'Consultative Conversations: The Change Process in Couples Therapy' 12. Judith F. Bula Fostering Change of Psychologically Abusive Behavior in Couples 13. Dianna Dunbar and Nancy Jeannechild The Stories and Strengths of Women Who Leave Battering Relationships 14. Edward W. L. Smith The Embodied Couple: Posture Change as an Assessment Tool. Index.