Couples In Treatment: Techniques And Approaches For Effective Practice (Hardcover)

by Gerald R. Weeks (Author) "In order to use the techniques presented in this book effectively, it is necessary to conduct an assessment of the couple and develop a formulation..." (more)
Key Phrases: betrayed partner, intersystem model, affair partner, Enhancing Intimacy, Treating the Extramarital Affair, Orienting Couples (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
I am delighted to see the second edition of what should be considered a classic in couples therapy. So beautifully, concisely expanded, it should be in the hands of every graduate student in training, as well as in the heads of seasoned professionals.
–Luciano LAbate, PhD

The book is a wise and mature integration of the three systems of the individual, the couple as an interactive system, and the intergenerational-each of the mates as a dynamic continuity from their previous family culture.

This is a fine book that advances the teaching and training of marital therapy significantly, even as its success in providing the reader with skills that...are simple, straightforward, and foundational

This is an important book, especially for teaching and training beginning marital therapist. The authors clearly are responsible, experienced, capable, and creative marital therapists who represent the finest of our profession. They are outstanding explorers on a high sea, which to date has evaded a complete mapping and mastery by even the most intrepid explorers of the mystery of marital experience who have preceded them. This is a book that should not be missed by any serious student of marital therapy.
.
–Contemporary Psychology, Vol. 48, No.5, 2003 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Practical text for therapists new to couples therapy on basic techniques, methods, and strategies. Uses the Intersystem Model, integrating individual, interactional, and intergenerational approaches.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876306784
• ISBN-13: 978-0876306789
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #794,964 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Start your couples therapy here!, July 19, 2007

By	Steven P. Spinella "Dr. Steve" (Taichung, TAIWAN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Couples in Treatment (Hardcover)

Gerald Weeks and Stephen Treat present "...the basic techniques, methods, and strategies needed by the couples therapist. (p. ix)" The text is intended to be a practical guide, not a theoretical treatment, and to emphasize both growth and enhanced intimacy as goals in therapy.
Principles and strategies
Weeks and Treat begin from the premise that effective therapy can draw on a variety of systemic techniques, as well as individual interventions. They call this the "intersystems" approach to therapy. While the first half of the book draws heavily on systemic and strategic frames for the therapeutic process. The second half of the book introduces eight distinct strategies for change, including a wide range of therapeutic modalities.
The preface summarizes the contribution of each chapter in a short paragraph (pp. ix--xi). The book is divided into two parts:
Basic principles for doing couples therapy
Part 1 contains seven chapters discussing basic principles, including...
* assessment and treatment plan formulation,
* orienting couples to therapy,
* balancing interventions among individuals,
* systemic interventions (as opposed to linear),
* attending to process, not just content,
* effective focus and managing intensity, and
* including individual modalities and interventions in systemic therapy.
Standard techniques and strategies
Part 2 focuses on eight different techniques and strategies, including...
* enhancing intimacy, not just problem-solving,
* reframing as a basic therapeutic strategy,
* communication techniques and coaching,
* conflict intervention and management,
* cognitive strategies, including RET and cognitive therapy,
* styles of contracting within marriage,
* attention to feelings as a therapeutic focus, and
* use of assignments outside of therapeutic sessions.
Commentary
This book fits its description as an introduction or review of basic couples therapy. By focusing on the overall process of therapy in the first half, Weeks and Treat assure that therapists keep the main thing the main thing--helping couples make the changes that brought them to therapy. In the second half of the book, they illustrate how to incorporate a variety of systemic and individual treatment modalities into their systemic frame. By reframing these techniques as all being valid contributors to the change process, they avoid the historic criticism that each systemic thinker recasts all of therapy according to their particular lens.
Still, they find ample room to promote their own contributions, including frequent references to their own previous published works, alone and with collaborators. The identification of enhanced intimacy as an underlying goal for couples' therapy in chapter 8 seems common sense, but can easily be lost by problem- or solution-focused therapists.
Obviously there are more techniques that could be discussed, and more explicit references to the primary literature could be included. For instance, there is not much focus on...
* narrative therapies, and the use of stories, both personal and metaphorical,
* solution-focused and brief therapies, which might be contrasted by their parsimonious approach to an aggregative intersystems model,
* multi-generational and developmental perspectives, which are more longitudinal in focus rather than present-focused, or
* paradoxical double binds, with their emphasis on radical breakthroughs.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed the book, particularly as a text which engages therapists and potential therapists immediately in the pragmatics of doing marital and couples therapy, regardless of their previous exposure to theory or technique.