...Journal of Family Therapy published an article titled “Structural Therapy with a Couple Battling Pornography Addiction” by Jeffrey J. Ford, Jared A. Durtschi, and Darell L. Franklin. This remarkable publication addresses an issue about how the increasing availability of pornographic material is becoming detrimental to couples’ relationships. It notifies the reader that boundless addictions to pornography are affecting individuals in a relationship, and as a result, therapists are pursuing effective ways to solve this significant issue. In this article, it is mentioned that pornography causes personal distress and symptoms of withdrawal and tolerance, which, in turn, can adversely affect relationship and neurological functioning. Unfortunately, there are many instances where therapists encounter victims of pornography addiction, but due to its uncommon occurrence, importance is not given to these addictions. The effects of this addiction are often underestimated, and it is often ignored that these addictions are as severe and difficult as other types of addictions. Therefore, this article addresses the severity of pornographic addictions, in addition to introducing the implementation of a successful structural therapy for obsessive patterns of pornographic addiction. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the structural therapy, the authors present a case study of a couple battling a pornographic addiction. The subjects involved in this case study are a couple named John and Mary...
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...Why Did I Get Married Essay Introduction According to (Brown, Emily: 2001) “Couples therapy is a form of psychological therapy used to treat relationship distress for both individuals and couples.” The purpose of couple’s therapy is to restore a better level of functioning in couples who experience relationship distress. The reasons for distress can include poor communication skills, incompatibility, or a broad spectrum of psychological disorders that include domestic violence, alcoholism, depression and anxiety. The focus of couple’s therapy is to identify the presence of dissatisfaction and distress in the relationship, and to devise and implement a treatment plan with objectives designed to improve or alleviate the presenting symptoms and restore the relationship to a better and healthier level of functioning. Couples therapy can assist persons who are having complaints of intimacy, sexual, and communication difficulties. Why Did I Get Married? Is about four couples who are old college and now best friends, who go away together for a week in the mountains to reconnect and sort out any marital problems in asking the question ‘Why did I get married.’ The film focuses on the trials of marriage. It is an intimate story about the difficulty of maintaining a solid love relationship in modern times. During a trip to the picturesque snow-capped mountains of Colorado, the eight married college friends have gathered for their annual seven-day reunion. However, the cosy mood is shattered...
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...Research Paper Draft – Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) was originally established in the earlier 1980s by Susan Johnson and Les Greenberg (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013; Johnson, Hunsley, Greengerg, & Schindler, 1999). Prior forms of therapy exclusively focused on a couple’s behavioral or cognitive problems while emotional experiences were seen as irrelevant (Johnson & Wittenborn, 2012). Additional theories also lacked empirical data about adult love and relationships, thus there was not a form of therapy that adequately dealt with these situations (Johnson et al., 1999). Johnson and Greenberg strived to overcome these therapeutic deficiencies when they designed EFCT. This paper offers a literature...
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...Emotionally focused therapy is primarily based on attachment theory and, is influenced by humanists’ approach and general systems theory (Ruzgyte & Spinks, 2011). Since everyone is unique in terms of experience, expectation, and emotion, in couple’s relationship the combination of the two results in a unique combination of emotions, behaviors and outcomes (Johnson & Whiffin, 2003). According to the attachment theory, a secure attachment fosters secure environment in which individuals can explore and experience acceptance to new knowledge and information, thus by creating a secure sense of self (Mikulincer, 1997). According to Johnson (2012), emotions play an important role in influencing attachment behaviors. Thus, in a secure relationship, couples can better deal with conflict and be positive. Attachment theory has proven success in couple’s therapy, thereby proving even healthy adult individuals in a relationship depend on each other (Nichols & Schwartz, 1984). Therefore, in a...
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...Introduction According to (Brown, Emily: 2001) “Couples therapy is a form of psychological therapy used to treat relationship distress for both individuals and couples.” The purpose of couple’s therapy is to restore a better level of functioning in couples who experience relationship distress. The reasons for distress can include poor communication skills, incompatibility, or a broad spectrum of psychological disorders that include domestic violence, alcoholism, depression and anxiety. The focus of couple’s therapy is to identify the presence of dissatisfaction and distress in the relationship, and to devise and implement a treatment plan with objectives designed to improve or alleviate the presenting symptoms and restore the relationship to a better and healthier level of functioning. Couples therapy can assist persons who are having complaints of intimacy, sexual, and communication difficulties. Why Did I Get Married? Is about four couples who are old college and now best friends, who go away together for a week in the mountains to reconnect and sort out any marital problems in asking the question ‘Why did I get married.’ The film focuses on the trials of marriage. It is an intimate story about the difficulty of maintaining a solid love relationship in modern times. During a trip to the picturesque snow-capped mountains of Colorado, the eight married college friends have gathered for their annual seven-day reunion. However, the cosy mood is shattered when the group comes...
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...assistant. Our perceptions change into things that are more reachable for the realization of what we once wanted to be takes much more to get there than initially realized. It was not until I met with my counselor and realized that without her help I would not be here today. It then became clear that I wanted to help others through therapy and be able to look back on my life and realize I had done some good in this world to benefit others in their relationships. I located an article in the University of Phoenix library titled, "Sex Addiction and Marriage and Family Therapy: Facilitating individual and relationship healing through couple therapy." I will further summarize the article, explain how this career aligns with my professional interests, and describe how I would develop my skills in this field based on the information in the article and the readings. This article overall relates the role of recent internet-based sexual behaviors and how it has resulted in those addicts having easier access to feed their sex addiction, creating new sex addicts who were never before, and the impact of such sex addiction on the addict, partner, and the couple (Bird, 2006). Not only has the internet opened the door to current addicts to feed their addiction, but also offers potential addicts easy access. Sex addictions range anywhere from mild to...
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...Experiencing Relationship Difficulties? You, like many couples before you who walk through our door, may feel very stuck and pretty hopeless about your marriage or relationship. When you made a commitment to your partner, you never imagined that the two of you would ever have the kinds of emotional distance or conflict in your relationship or marriage that you are now experiencing. Amid these conflicts you may be asking yourself, have I made a mistake? It is a normal part of marital development to come to a place in the relationship where the dream of how you thought things would be, and the reality, do not match. Many people make one of three choices. They can leave, possibly trying to get it right with a different kind of person....
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...9. Social worker supporting client. “The strengths and weaknesses in social work practice, applying an ecological approach can be best understood as looking at persons, families, cultures, communities, and policies and to identify and intervene upon the transitional processes between these systems” Bronfenbrenner, (1979). The client has suffered numerous disparities and wants to transition out of the marriage with therapy assistance because he says his wife cannot be trusted. Also, she cheated with the neighbor he wants out of the dysfunctional relationship; the couple have very distant relationship. The intervention theory consists of focus theory a quick divorce as the client desires. Example, “He says he believes that he can survive without...
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...OVERVIEW Dr. Susan Johnson’s book entitled The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), is a standard therapeutic manual useful for clinicians in training and providing step by step guides to the practice of EFT, including transcripts of client therapy sessions, role play and suggested approaches. In almost every chapter of the book are examples of in session dialog, which provides the clinician with a clear picture of what tasks are expected and the possible response of clients and the interpretation of the response. This is helpful to clinicians in training as it provides a road map to follow when practicing this dialog with clients in session. CHAPTERS 1: The Field of Couple Therapy 1. The emergence and growth of EFT 2. The EFT approach 3. How is EFT different from other approaches 4. Where does the EFT Theory of Change come from 5. What does EFTY look like 6. The process of change 2: An Attachment View of Love: The EFT Philosophy (the relationship is the client) 1. The EFT perspective on adult love 3: The EFT Theory of Change: Within and Between 1. Integrating systemic and experiential perspectives 2. Summary: The primary assumptions of EFT 4: The Basics of EFT: Tasks and Interventions. Expanding Experiences and Shaping Dances 1. The key role of empathy 2. Task 1: the creation and maintenance of a therapeutic alliance 3. Task 2: the accessing and reformulating of emotion 4. Which emotion to focus on? 5. Skills and Interventions: assessing...
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...individuality within their bonded union. Conflict of any kind is a healthy exercise in patience and understanding. There are positional boundaries’ that should be respected and valued in marital relationships. Marital satisfaction and longevity can be achieved if the two partners adhere to the rules of engagement in their attempt to express their needs and desires while valuing each other’s difference and individuality. However, when there is a sense of love loss within the dyadic relationship, conflicts can become detrimental to marital bliss. Achieving marital satisfaction and longevity can be challenging when passions are high and couples are in a constant state of flux due to verbal confrontation, or gender-role conflict. Keywords: marital conflict, marital longevity, conflict resolution and marital Satisfaction. Effects of Unresolved Conflict on Marital Satisfaction and Longevity Within the binding bonds of marital bliss, there is a dynamic that occasionally rears its ugly head; conflict. There have been married couples throughout time in memoriam who have declared that conflict does not reside within the confines of their marriages. (These are “the avoiders,” they will be discussed later in this composition.) If this is true, then how does a marital relationship survive if each partner impedes the value of differentiation while still remaining true too, and loving the person with whom they are joined in marriage? Conflict celebrates difference and in...
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...Running head: COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Abstract Counseling has been in existence from the beginning of time. From Jethro to Freud, therapists and philosophers have been seeking insight into the core of human nature and cognitions. Cognitive-Behavioral therapy (CBT) recognizes that faulty cognitions and beliefs affect the behaviors of individuals. One method of cognitive-behavior therapy, reality therapy, incorporates the concepts of free choice and personal responsibility that are taught both in Scripture and Dr. William Glasser’s choice theory. Other aspects of CBT, such as cognitive restructuring and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), also work towards eliminating negativistic attitudes of clients in exchange for more effective and realistic methods for interpreting the situations experienced in daily life. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy It is suggested that an individual’s personality is a complex system of cognition, emotion, will, physiology, and spirituality. Hawkins proposes nine aspects of the human self to be active influences on one’s personality: “body, cognition, feelings, volition, human spirit, Holy Spirit, sin/flesh/SAS, temporal systems, and spiritual systems (Hawkins COUN507_BO1_200920). Each therapist individually determines what factors they believe to make up a person’s being. Larry Crabb views humans as involving both the physical and spiritual aspects of man...
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...sometimes even though couples work hard to maintain a happy healthy relationship, they encounter issues that they cannot address alone and may need help. There are many well trained counselors that seek to aid couples in their area of need and even the professionals sometimes have to adjust in order to aid in their healing. Couple counseling just as any counseling takes hard work and dedication. The intake process is vital to the couple’s outcome and what’s even more important is how the counselor addresses the couple’s issues after the intake process (Ripley & Worthington, 2014). It is important for counselors to figure out the best treatment to fit the needs of the couple specifically. Ripley provides four questions to aid in those treatment decisions; they will be referred to as AFTR. AFTR stands for appropriate, fit, typical and relevant (Ripley& Worthington, 2014). After reading this week’s lesson the question that stood out most states: Is couple counseling appropriate for this couple? Of the four questions, the most important is the question of appropriateness because in order to begin any treatment one must first find the issue and provide the best resolution according to those issues. Couple therapy can be contraindicated as determined by research studies and discussions amongst clinicians (Ripley & Worthington, 2014). The text breaks down different circumstances in which a couple may need to seek a different form of treatment before couple therapy can be effective. It...
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...Personally, I feel there are benefits of why fidelity should be out in the open in couple’s therapy. I have always heard “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” and I have felt like there are some things, like infidelity that no matter how painful, should be known. I feel, not knowing about the infidelity it would be hard for a couple in crisis to move forward. Moreover, a partner may feel like the other is distracted, but, they are cheating, so how can a couple resolve issues if there is no accountability or honesty for one’s actions? In contrast, I can see that knowing about infidelity could cause a lot of pain and hurt to be morally honest with one’s partner. Per Butler, Rodriguez, & Feinauer, (2010) some exceptions for a counselor to consider are: (a) one partner is suffering from terminal illness; (b) divorce papers have been filed; (c) if there is possibility for physical abuse; (d) one of the partners is suffering from a serious mental health disorder that could affect the overall ability to facilitate healing: or (e) many years have passed since the partner was unfaithful and the reasons why they have chosen couples therapy is unrelated to the previous infidelity. Additionally, counselors may need to judge the risk of harm to the other partner and whether it is relevant to the couple’s future (Butler, Rodriguez, & Feinauer, 2010)....
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...Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples Key Concepts Dr. Sue Johnson www.holdmetight.com Copyright: Dr. Susan Johnson 2011 www.iceeft.com 1 Couples Therapy – New Era New Knowledge : Power of relationships on mental & physical health (eg. Heart disease, immune functioning, depression), on resilience. Lovers are regulators of each other’s physiology, emotional functioning. Nature of relationships (positive/negative – the problem in CT-John Gottman and Ted Huston). Powerful proven interventions such as EFT –Empirical validation. In session change process (in EFT heightened emotion & alliance crucial). New science of love (offers a focus/goal for CT-adult attachment). New targetsfor CT-people in context of key relationships. CT used for individual problems (depression, anxiety). For the first time there is convergence. A potent integration of theory/research/practice is possible. 2 EFT – Couples Therapy For The First Time : The couple therapist is in territory of the: Understandable Predictable Explainable Changeable We Know: The Territory – The Problem The Destination – Goal The Map – Key Moves/Moments New Science- based on observation of distress, satisfaction, bonding in action, change in therapy. 3 EFT is an Experiential Approach All knowledge is experience. Everything else is just information. Einstein Change occurs in therapy though a “Corrective emotional experience”. Frank 4 Empathic Responsiveness is the essence of Emotionally Focused Therapy – The empathic responsiveness...
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...therapist. Marriage and family therapist (LMFT) diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems (A Comparative Analysis, 2008). A Comparative Analysis found that LMFT apply psychotherapeutic and family systems theories and techniques in the delivery of professional services to individuals, couples, and families for the purpose of treating such diagnosed nervous and mental disorders (2008). Therapy usually consists of talk sessions, asting about an hour. Using techniques learned in classrooms and in fieldwork, counselors guide their clients through a series of conversations that reveal their clients' anger, fears, and needs. When couples are considering divorce, for instance, counselors work to uncover the underlying reasons for the divorce and discover whether reconciliation is possible. Marriage counselors usually speak with a husband and wife at the same time, although they may have some sessions with them separately. “They may also counsel groups of married couples,...
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