Couples Therapy

By Linda Berg-Cross

Book Overview

"The use of exercises and clinical vignettes is an important strength. . . . A major contribution is that the text could be recommended by family therapists to their clients, which would greatly enhance the therapist-client therapeutic relationship. . . . This is a very practical text dealing with how clinicians from different orientations and professions could assist their clients with their interpersonal relationship problems. Couples Therapy is particularly useful for marriage and family therapists, clinical psychologists, social workers, counselors, pastoral counselors, and psychiatrists." --Freddy A. Paniagua, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch "Easily accessible for beginning-level therapists/counselors, Couples Therapy includes lots of practical suggestions, in enough detail to be readily usable." --Sally Stabb, Department of Psychology and Philosophy, Texas Woman′s University "I liked Linda Berg-Cross′s approach very much. She blends research and clinical knowledge, behavioral and psychodynamic approaches, and theory and practice in an easily understandable form. . . . I also really enjoyed the author′s writing style. . . . It′s clear, concise, down to earth, and easy to follow. . . . I think the style will be highly appealing to clinicians and beginning grad students. . . . . Couples Therapy is also research-informed and very comprehensive in scope. . . . Its scope and sensitivity go beyond typical marital therapy texts." --Richard E. Heyman, Department of Psychology, SUNY at Stony Brook Help couples work toward establishing successful, fulfilling relationships using Couples Therapy, a practical, skills-based book. Based on the latest research but also integrating a variety of theoretical orientations, this book shows students and practicing therapists how to build effective interventions with couples. Using theories and findings from research, author Linda Berg-Cross bases her integrative approach around four basic domains, or cornerstones, of relationships: resiliency, development of social support, adaptability, and self-fulfillment. She then builds on each cornerstone to explore common issues that can lead to trouble within relationships, including anger, depression, anxiety, parenting, home and paid work, in-laws, communication, sexuality, and spirituality. Chapter features also include self-assessment questionnaires that therapists can easily use with clients, therapeutic exercises that couples can use either in sessions or on their own to set goals for improvement, and recommended books and videos for clients. Also providing suggestions for applications, this book examines case examples, intervention suggestions for the therapist, outlines for planning couples′ group sessions, and questions to help the student or practitioner deepen his or her understanding of the issues covered in the chapter. Integrating cognitive-behavioral, rational-emotive, family systems, psychodynamic, and humanistic approaches to couples work, Couples Therapy offers a model that cuts across theoretical disciplines. Valuable to therapeutic professionals, this book also functions well as a text for counseling/clinical psychology and social work courses in marriage and couples therapy, especially at master′s and certification levels.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080397129X
• ISBN13: 9780803971295
• Release Date: February 1997
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.2" x 7.2" x 1.0"