ABSTRACTS OF LITERATURE

This is a report on the methodology for an outcome study of marital therapy, comparing an interpretative approach with a direct, behavioral approach based on operant conditioning principles. A control group will receive common sense, nondirective, and noninterpretive therapy. All three types of treatment will be given by the same therapist. Assessment will be done by an independent assessor, blind to treatment, and by questionnaires filled out separately by each partner, covering work, leisure, social, and sexual spheres, as well as symptoms. Sessions will be given every other week, usually up to ten sessions, but cases could be stopped earlier. An example of each of the three approaches is given, and preliminary impressions of treatment are reported.