Couples and Change (Psychology Revivals)

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.

Barbara Jo Brothers, MSW, BCD, a Diplomate in Clinical Social Work, National Association of Social Workers, is in private practice in New Orleans. She received her BA from the University of Texas and her MSW from Tulane University, where she is currently on the faculty. She was Editor of The Newsletter of the American Academy of Psychotherapists from 1976 to 1985, and was Associate Editor of Voices: The Art and Science of Psychotherapy from 1979 to 1989. She has 30 years of experience, in both the public and private sectors, helping people to form skills that will enable them to connect emotionally. The author of numerous articles and book chapters on authenticity in human relating, she has advocated healthy, congruent communication that builds intimacy as opposed to destructive, incongruent communication which blocks intimacy. In addition to her many years of direct work with couples and families, Ms. Brothers has led numerous workshops on teaching communication in families and has also played an integral role in the development of training programs in family therapy for mental health workers throughout the Louisiana state mental health system. She is a board member of the Institute for International Connections, a non-profit organization for cross-cultural professional development focused on training and cross-cultural exchange with psychotherapists in Russia, republics once part of what used to be the Soviet Union, and other Eastern European countries.