Helping couples on the brink of divorce : discernment counseling for troubled relationships / William J. Doherty and Steven M. Harris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Doherty, William J. (William Joseph), 1945- author.

Harris, Steven M. (Steven Michael), author.

Contributor:

American Psychological Association, issuing body.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Couples Therapy--methods.

Counseling--methods.

Divorce--psychology.

Marital Therapy--methods.

Marriage--psychology.

Couples therapy.

Marital psychotherapy.

Medical Subjects:

Couples Therapy--methods.

Counseling--methods.

Divorce--psychology.

Marital Therapy--methods.

Marriage--psychology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 229 pages)

Other Title:

APA PsycBOOKS.

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, [2017]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"Therapists and counselors can find themselves at an impasse when working with "mixed-agenda" couples -- where one partner is considering divorce, while the other wants to preserve the marriage and start therapy. Such couples are a common and difficult challenge in clinical practice. To help confirm each partner's agenda before taking decisive steps toward either reconciliation or divorce, this book presents a richly-illustrated protocol, called discernment counseling, for helping couples understand what has happened to their relationship and each person's contributions to the problems. The goal is to gain clarity and confidence about a direction for their marriage. Discernment counseling generally ends with a decision to divorce or a decision to engage in six months of couples therapy. Chapters cover special topics such as affairs and when one spouse has "fallen out of love" with the other. Discernment counseling features individual conversations with the leaning-in and leaning-out spouse, along with carefully orchestrated times for each partner to share what they learned in the individual conversations. A special feature of the protocol is its short-term nature, with an initial commitment to just one session and a decision each time whether to do another session, up to five. This strategy invites both spouses to keep making choices to continue the work."--Publicity materials (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Contents:

Background and overview of discernment counseling

Theory and research

Communicating with clients before starting discernment counseling

First session protocol

Middle sessions protocol

Handling transitions to path three : couples therapy

Handling transitions to path two : divorce

Handling transitions to path one : status quo

When one partner has an affair

When the feelings are gone

When neither one is leaning in

When you need to shift from couples therapy to discernment counseling

Learning discernment counseling

Managing critical incidents in discernment counseling

How to build a practice in discernment counseling.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2017.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781433827501

1433827506

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.