Disarming jealousy in couples relationships: a multidimensional approach

Jealousy is a powerful emotional force in couples' relationships. In just seconds it can turn love into rage and tenderness into acts of control, intimidation, and even suicide or murder. Yet it has been surprisingly neglected in the couples therapy field. In this paper we define jealousy broadly as a hub of contradictory feelings, thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions, and consider how it can range from a normative predicament to extreme obsessive manifestations. We ground jealousy in couples' basic relational tasks and utilize the construct of the vulnerability cycle to describe processes of derailment. We offer guidelines on how to contain the couple's escalation, disarm their ineffective strategies and power struggles, identify underlying vulnerabilities and yearnings, and distinguish meanings that belong to the present from those that belong to the past, or to other contexts. The goal is to facilitate relational and personal changes that can yield a better fit between the partners' expectations.     

Therapeutic popularity and personality: Association between peer therapist nominations and the “Big Five” personality factors

The “Big Five” personality factors of three groups of psychology students differing in popularity as therapist among their peers were compared (n=33). In agreement with earlier research, popular therapists are “agreeable”, “conscientious” and “stable”. However, popular therapists are not “surgent/extravert” and especially not “dominant” and “talkative”. No support was found for the hypothesis that similarity in “agreeableness” or dissimilarity in “surgency” (the complementarily hypothesis derived from interpersonal theory) predicts therapist popularity. However, similarity between client and therapist in “stability” was predictive of nominations for therapist. On the assumption that therapist popularity predisposes good therapeutic alliances, the results indicate that therapists agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability are relative to success in therapeutic interventions.     

Couples Work in Cultural Context: Te Ao Māori and Poststucturalist Practices Informing Counselor Training in Aotearoa New Zealand

This article outlines key themes that appear in the teaching of poststructuralist ideas and practices for couples counseling within the Postgraduate Diploma in Counseling Program at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand, and it explores the congruence of this pedagogical approach with Māori (indigenous) understandings of relationality, collaboration, and partnership. The diploma program's curriculum includes narrative therapy and relational language‐making. Themes explored in this article include: understanding (heterosexual) couple relationships as contextualized entities, deconstructing dominant discourses of coupledom, and the positioning of counselors/teachers as nonexpert. Taking each theme in turn, the authors, one of them Māori and two Pākehā (European), articulate points of alignment with Māori cultural concepts and practices.     

Recoupling in Mid‐Life and Beyond: From Love at Last to Not So Fast

Divorce rates have dropped in the United States, except for couples over 50 where they are rising steeply, along with rates of late‐life recoupling. Both stepcouples and their young adult and adult children in new older stepfamilies are often surprised to find themselves facing many of the same challenges that younger stepfamilies do. Some challenges are even intensified by the decades‐long relationships and additional layers of extended family that come with recoupling after mid‐life. Stepfamilies formed in later life must also negotiate decisions about estate planning and elder care among stakeholders who often have sharply divergent agendas before there is time to establish trusting relationships. This article describes the “normal” challenges facing stepcouples who come together over age 50. It provides evidence‐informed guidance for therapists in meeting these challenges on three levels of clinical work: Psychoeducational, Interpersonal, and Intrapsychic/Intergenerational. As in younger stepfamilies, “family therapy” must usually begin in subsystems—often the adult stepcouple and parent–adult child. The article then describes a particularly fraught subgroup of recouplers: over‐50 fathers and their new partners, where the dad's young adult or adult daughter is very unhappy with his new relationship. In these latter stepfamilies, father–daughter repair must precede stepfamily bonding. Stepfamilies that are preceded by a partner's death and those that begin with affairs are also discussed. Finally, some “easy wrong turns” for therapists are described.     

Delivering Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Weight Self-Stigma Through Guided Self-Help: Results From an Open Pilot Trial

Weight self-stigma is a promising target for innovative interventions seeking to improve outcomes among overweight/obese individuals. Preliminary research suggests acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) may be an effective approach for reducing weight self-stigma, but a guided self-help version of this intervention may improve broad dissemination. This pilot open trial sought to evaluate the potential acceptability and efficacy of a guided self-help ACT intervention, included coaching and a self-help book, with a sample of 13 overweight/obese individuals high in weight self-stigma. Results indicated a high degree of program engagement (77% completed the intervention) and satisfaction. Participants improved on outcomes over time including weight self-stigma, emotional eating, weight management behaviors, health-related quality of life, and depression. Although not a directly targeted outcome, participants improved on objectively measured weight, with an average of 4.18 pounds lost over 7 weeks, but did not improve on self-reported weight at 3-month follow-up. Processes of change improved over time, including psychological inflexibility, valued action and reasons to lose weight. Coaching effects indicated greater retention and improvements over time with one coach vs. the other, suggesting characteristics of coaching can affect outcomes. Overall, these results provide preliminary support for the acceptability and efficacy of a guided self-help ACT program for weight self-stigma. Implications of these results and how to address clinical challenges with guided self-help are discussed.     

Integrating Individual and Family Systems Psychotherapy to Treat Borderline Personality Disorder

This paper focuses on two areas. The first is the framework for psychotherapy integration used by Unified Therapy, a psychotherapy approach that is an integration of psychodynamic, cognitive–behavioral, and family systems therapy. The second is the use of this treatment paradigm in the psychotherapy of adults with borderline personality disorder. The theory posits that continuing and recurrent interpersonal behavior patterns within the patient's family of origin serve as behavioral triggers to typical acting-out behaviors. Therapy is geared toward planning strategies to alter these destructive patterns. A case example is presented to demonstrate the use of the therapy's theories and techniques.     

反义技术抗病毒感染基因治疗的几点思考

众所周知,病毒感染对人类健康和社会经济均有严重影响,如ＡＩＤＳ,目前临床上尚无特效药物和疗法。随着分子生物学和生物技术的发展,提出反义技术抗病毒基因治疗———一种很有希望的治疗技术。这一技术是以病毒基因结构及其产物功能的辩证关系为基石,将随着病毒基因结构及其产物功能的辩证关系的深入研究而进一步完善     

The Discursive Performance of Change Process in Systemic and Constructionist Therapies: A Systematic Meta‐Synthesis Review of In‐Session Therapy Discourse

Despite the emphasis of systemic and constructionist approaches on discourse and interaction, to date there has been no comprehensive overview of how change process is performed within in‐session therapeutic dialogue. In this paper, we present a qualitative meta‐synthesis of 35 articles reporting systemic and constructionist therapy process data from naturally occurring therapeutic dialogue. The studies were selected following the screening against eligibility criteria of a total sample of 2,977 studies identified through a systematic search of PsycINFO and MEDLINE databases. Thematic analysis of the 35 studies’ findings identified four main themes depicting change process performance: (a) shifting to a relational perspective, (b) shifting to non‐pathologizing therapeutic dialogue, (c) moving‐forward dialogue, and (d) the dialogic interplay of power. Findings highlight the interactional and discursive matrix within which systemic and constructionist change process occurs. Findings illuminate the value of qualitative research studies sampling naturally occurring therapeutic discourse in bringing this matrix forth, particularly when utilizing discursive methodologies like conversation or discourse analysis.     

Human‐Animal Bonds II: The Role of Pets in Family Systems and Family Therapy

The vast majority of pet owners regard their companion animals as family members, yet the role of pets in family systems and family therapy has received little attention in research, training, and practice. This article first notes the benefits of family pets and their importance for resilience. It then examines their role in couple and family processes and their involvement in relational dynamics and tensions. Next, it addresses bereavement in the loss of a cherished pet, influences complicating grief, and facilitation of mourning and adaptation. Finally, it explores the ways that clients' pets and the use of therapists' companion animals in animal‐assisted therapy can inform and enrich couple and family therapy as valuable resources in healing.