Pastoral response to marital alienation

Couples who seek pastoral help for their troubled marriages often display great hostility in their marital relationships. These negative feelings are the result of a cumulative process in which alienation builds over time through a series of hostile interactions by the distressed partners. Before assisting couples in solving the basic problems confronting them, the pastor must guide the couples in halting the destructive process of alienation and in establishing a climate of mutual cooperation in their marriages. Conventional marriage counseling techniques require a reasonable amount of positive couple interaction for the methods to be successful.Ch. Lt. Col. Gilbert W. Beeson, Jr., is a member of the United States Air Force Chaplain Resource Board. His address is: USAF Chaplain Board—LMDC/HCX, Bldg 814, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama 36112.