Couples Therapy

This course is designed to: (1) familiarize the student with the issues commonly encountered in couples therapy, (2) familiarize the student with the array of major approaches to treating couples, and (3) ground the student in one particular model of treatment. The first half of the course will examine: (1) the most common couples issues, (2) the major approaches to couples treatment, and (3) the research on couples and their treatment. The most commonly occurring couples issues will be examined within the framework of a couples lifecycle perspective. Students will review the major models of couples therapy, including Cognitive Behavioral Couples Therapy, Object Relations Couples Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, the differentiation model, and short-term solution oriented approaches. The research component will focus primarily on the work of John Gottman. The remainder of the course will focus on one particular model of couples treatment, the Emotional Safety model. Students will learn the theoretical foundation of the model in modern affect theory and will explore application of the model through role playing and other in-class exercises. The goal of the course is to have both a strong conceptual framework and a beginning repertoire of clinical skills for treating couples.