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“This is a real blockbuster, with nineteen chapters and twenty-six authors....Clearly it should be on the shelf in any library of a training centre. It represents a very important compendium of knowledge.”

—ACP North London Magazine


“Couples today face the daunting challenges of stress-laden lives and precious little time to nurture their relationship, and couple therapists find themselves with many complex cases. In this timely volume, Gurman and a cadre of leading couple therapists provide a wealth of practical guidelines, case illustrations, and commentary from their own experiences and varied practice orientations. Both beginning social work students and experienced practitioners will find this casebook invaluable.”

—Froma Walsh, PhD, Codirector, Chicago Center for Family Health, and Mose and Sylvia Firestone Professor Emerita, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago


“This is the only recent couple therapy book I've seen that features a broad range of real cases presented by clinicians from a variety of orientations. It is wonderfully engaging. Whether you are new to couple therapy or are a seasoned clinician, this book will expand your understanding of what happens throughout the course of couple therapy, including both clinical successes and disappointments. Read this book—you will learn, be inspired, and gain an even greater appreciation of how the field of couple therapy has evolved.”

—Donald H. Baucom, PhD, Richard Simpson Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


“Clinical Casebook of Couple Therapy would be an excellent companion to Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy in a graduate-level couple therapy class. The case examples do an outstanding job of putting 'meat' on the theoretical bones of the different approaches, permitting both a deeper understanding of each approach and consideration of similarities and differences across them. Students will get an inside view of the alternating challenges and breakthroughs that comprise the intricate dance of therapy.”

—Brian D. Doss, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Miami


“This clinical casebook offers extraordinary insights into the practice of couple therapy. It reflects the diversity and breadth of couple therapy today and provides a great opportunity to see master clinicians addressing some of the most interesting clinical challenges. The stories embedded in these chapters are intriguing dramas that clinicians and students will enjoy as they learn new strategies and techniques.”

—William M. Pinsof, PhD, President, The Family Institute at Northwestern University


“Clinical Casebook of Couple Therapy proves once again that although theories of couple therapy can be neat and tidy, real therapy cases seldom are. Readers learn from the pros how to improvise over the course of therapy, using one’s preferred theory as a touchstone along the way. Gurman’s incisive questions throughout the text provide an additional dimension that greatly enriches the experience.”

—Robert-Jay Green, PhD, Distinguished Professor, California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, San Francisco

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Table of Contents

1. The Evolving Clinical Practice of Couple Therapy, Alan S. Gurman

2. Attunement, Disruption, and Repair: The Dance of Self and Other in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy, P. Susan Hazlett

3. Explanation and Description: An Integrative, Solution-Focused Case of Couple Therapy, Thorana S. Nelson

4. The North-Going Zax and the South-Going Zax: From Impasse to Empathic Acceptance in Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy, Erika Lawrence and Rebecca L. Brock

5. Therapy with a Gay Male Couple: An Unlikely Multisystemic Integration, David E. Greenan

6. A Clinical Format for Bowen Family Systems Therapy with Highly Reactive Couples, Peter Titelman

7. A Good-Enough Therapy: An Object Relations Approach, Judith P. Siegel

8. El Tigre, El Tigre: A Story of Narrative Practice, Victoria C. Dickerson and Kathie Crocket

9. Rewiring Emotional Habits: The Pragmatic/Experiential Method, Brent J. Atkinson

10. Relational Empowerment in Couple Therapy: An Integrative Approach, Mona DeKoven Fishbane

11. Opening Steps: A Structural Approach to Working with Couples, Douglas S. Rait

12. Self-Soothing and Other-Soothing in Emotion-Focused Therapy for Couples, Rhonda N. Goldman and Leslie S. Greenberg

13. Searching for Mutuality: A Feminist/Multicultural Approach to Couple Therapy, Sheila M. Addison and Volker Thomas

14. Getting Over a Rough Spot: A Short-Term, Problem-Focused Approach, Sam R. Hamburg

15. Building Intimacy Bridges: From the Marriage Checkup to Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy, Melinda Ippolito Morrill and James V. Córdova

16. The Me Nobody Knows: Attachment Repair in Couple Therapy, Marion F. Solomon

17. Creating Self-to-Self Intimacy: Internal Family Systems Therapy with Couples, Richard C. Schwartz and Adrian J. Blow

18. At the Risk of Losing Our Misery: Existential Couple Therapy, Jerrold Lee Shapiro

19. Happily Ever After: A Couple Therapy from Three Perspectives, David C. Treadway

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About the Editor

Alan S. Gurman, PhD, until his death in 2013, was Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. A pioneer in the development of integrative approaches to couple therapy, he edited and wrote many influential books; was a past two-term editor of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy; and was former President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. Dr. Gurman received numerous awards for his contributions to couple and family therapy, including the Distinguished Achievement in Family Therapy Research Award from the American Family Therapy Academy and the Distinguished Contribution to Family Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association. He also received the Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teaching and Training from the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers.

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Contributors

Sheila M. Addison, PhD, Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology, Graduate School of Professional Psychology, John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, California

Brent J. Atkinson, PhD, Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy, School of Family, Consumer, and Nutrition Studies, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, and Director of Post Graduate Training, The Couples Research Institute, Geneva, Illinois

Adrian J. Blow, PhD, LMFT, Assistant Professor, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Department of Family and Child Ecology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Rebecca L. Brock, MA, PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

James V. Córdova, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training, Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts

Kathie Crocket, PhD, Director of Counsellor Education, Department of Human Development and Counselling Nga Pumanawa, School of Education, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

Victoria C. Dickerson, PhD, private practice, Los Gatos, California, and Adjunct Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, San Jose State University, San Jose, California

Mona DeKoven Fishbane, PhD, private practice, Highland Park, Illinois, and Director, Couple Therapy Training Program, Chicago Center for Family Health, Chicago, Illinois

Rhonda N. Goldman, PhD, Associate Professor, Clinical Psychology Program, Argosy University, Schaumburg, Illinois, and Affiliate Psychotherapist, Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

David E. Greenan, EdD, Adjunct Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York

Leslie S. Greenberg, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Alan S. Gurman, PhD, Emeritus Professor and Director of Family Therapy Training, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin

Sam R. Hamburg, PhD, private practice, and Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

P. Susan Hazlett, PhD, Assistant Professor and Associate Director, Family Studies Program and Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina

Erika Lawrence, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

Melinda Ippolito Morrill, LMSW, MA, PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts

Thorana S. Nelson, PhD, Professor, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Department of Family, Consumer, and Human Development, Utah State University, Logan, Utah

Douglas S. Rait, PhD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Chief, Couples and Family Therapy Clinic, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, and Director, Family Therapy Program, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California

Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, LMFT, Director, Center for Self-Leadership, Oak Park, Illinois

Jerrold Lee Shapiro, PhD, Professor, Department of Counseling Psychology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California

Judith P. Siegel, PhD, LCSW, Associate Professor and Co-Director, Post-Master’s Certificate Program in Child and Family Therapy, Department of Life Long Learning, Silver School of Social Work, New York University, New York, New York

Marion F. Solomon, PhD, Director of Training, Lifespan Learning Institute, Lecturer, David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and Senior Extension Faculty, Department of Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California

Volker Thomas, PhD, Associate Professor, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

Peter Titelman, PhD, private practice, Northampton, Massachusetts, and Founding Member of the New England Seminar on Bowen Theory, Worcester, Massachusetts

David C. Treadway, PhD, private practice, and Director, Treadway Training Institute, Weston, Massachusetts

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Audience

Therapists and counselors who treat couples, including clinical psychologists, social workers, family therapists, psychiatrists, and pastoral counselors; clinical graduate students.

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Course Use

Will serve as a text in graduate-level courses such as Marriage and Family Therapy, Couples Counseling, Social Work Practice with Families, Conjoint Therapy, Relationship Distress, and Treating Couples.