Marriage A Search For Healing / Edition 1

by Jerry M. Lewis

Overview

This work reveals those key elements that make for greater bonding with couples in therapy. The author believes that improvement in the couples he treats almost always involves greater closeness and the development of greater capacity for intimacy. Change can come about in different ways for different couples. For some, insight appears to play to play an important role. Learning about one's central problematic relationship of childhood and its re-enactment with one's partner in adult life frequently involves also learning about the ways one subtly recreates this dysfunctional relationship structure.; For others, improvement appears to be closely related to experiencing new ways of dealing with conflict. This avenue of improvement relies in part on the understanding but, even more, on learning the approaches to conflict resolution. It is as if these couples need to hear over and over again the recordings that document their insensitivities and consequent failure. They must offer Each Other The Experiences That Are Emotionally Suppportive And Crucial for emotional and physical health and also give life its meaning.; Finally, the treatment approach outline also has significant effects on the therapists. Indeed, it may be difficult to know who learns most. Involvement as a couples therapist may have all sorts of impact on the therapists, and it will come as surprise that it is in the area of the therapist's capacity for intimacy that the greatest effect can be experienced.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780876308318
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/01/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 At the Beginning; Chapter 2 Out of All the Millions of People…; Chapter 3 Enduring Interactions and Collective Illusions; Chapter 4 Competent Marriages and the Continuum of Marital Competence; Chapter 5 A Theory of Marital Systems; Chapter 6 Assessment; Chapter 7 Assessment; Chapter 8 Marital Therapy; Chapter 9 Marital Therapy; Chapter 10 Marital Therapy;

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Kelly E. Arduino, MA, LCPC (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: This book is Dr. Jerry Lewis's personal theory and approach to couples therapy. He describes how to systematically assess, conceptualize, and treat couples within the context of his "pluralistic" perspective.
Purpose: The author describes his theory and approach to treating couples, which has evolved from his extensive experience as a clinician and family/marital researcher. There are many books of this type on the market, but the author's reputation and work in the area of healthy families/relationships is unique.
Audience: This book is written specifically for the couples therapist and secondarily for the individual psychotherapist. The author is certainly qualified to write a personal perspective book of this kind.
Features: The book relies on text, in the form of case examples, rather than figures or illustrations to describe theory and application. Sections on theory are appropriately referenced and the author provides a suggested reading list for further understanding of theoretical concepts.
Assessment: This book is exclusively for the clinician rather than the academic. It is written in an informal tone with case examples and personal anecdotes for illustration of theory and treatment. At times, the text may ramble and be repetitive, but it is easy to read. Given the author's prolific and successful publication history, many people would probably buy his latest effort. Therefore, the primary consumers of this book are bookstores and individual clinicians. The book is competitively priced.

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