The Family Journal

Relational style focuses on how a couple organizes their relationship and deals with differences and conflicts. In contrast, the couple sexual style refers to how each person maintains their sexual autonomy (i.e., sexual voice) while being an intimate sexual team integrating intimacy and eroticism. Typically, a couple’s sexual style is different than their relational style. This concept can be motivating and empowering, especially for couples in therapy.

In providing couples and family counseling to sexual/affectional and gender variant minorities (i.e., queer persons), couples and family counselors (CFCs) need to recognize that religious and spiritual identity can be salient topics. While many queer persons embrace an irreligious identity, some queer individuals embrace varied degrees of religious/spiritual identification. In a partnership, an intrarelational conflict could result when the partners do not adhere to a similar level of religiosity or spirituality. CFCs must be prepared to accept the possibility of such conflict, allow for the embrace of religious identification, and offer counseling practices that will bridge that relational gap.

Understanding variations in conjugal relationships can help counselors and clients cocreate a template for these relationships in terms of their interactions with the broader society and as related to the legal standing of sanctioned marriage. Such a framework can help clients make informed decisions about the present status and future aspirations of these relationships keeping in mind their legal standing and ramifications. This article offers a basic understanding of the practices of common-law marriage and cohabiting relationships offering implications for clinical service, preparation of knowledgeable couples’ counselors, and future study.

The present study was designed to revise a previous measure of the “Negative Comparisons for Alternative Relationships” Scale originally developed by Rusbult and her colleagues. Rusbult’s research of her investment model of commitment is the only research that has ever been successful at predicting sexual infidelity among heterosexual couples. The key variable in Rusbult’s investment model is the negative comparison for alternative relationships, which will be called “negative comps,” in the present article. A sample of 227 participants were recruited to validate a new scale based on Rusbult’s approach. Validation with a Marital Satisfaction Scale, a measure of depression, a measure of anxiety, and an adult attachment measure. The new measure had excellent criterion and discriminant validity.

The purpose of this study was to examine dyadic coping constructs of support and undermining and their relationship with depressive symptoms among couples experiencing unemployment. A 1-year longitudinal correlational field study employing cross-lag autoregressive models among 417 job seekers and their partners was conducted. Results highlighted the significance of full-time reemployment status as the strongest predictor of changes in depressive symptoms over time. Specifically, depressive symptoms declined for those achieving full-time reemployment. Results of χ² difference tests indicated no difference in the effects of support and undermining on depression. Furthermore, no gender differences were found between male and female coping processes and depressive symptoms. Implications for clinical interventions and future research directions are discussed.

Personal choice marriages, commonly called love marriages, are a phenomenon that have historically been grounded in individualistic values and Western societies; thus, arranged marriages are still a common practice in non-Western countries such as India. The primary purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to better understand the shared lived experience of Indian couples in love marriages, both those in India and those who have emigrated abroad. Sixteen individuals were interviewed for this study in India (n = 10, representing five heterosexual couples) or the United States (n = 6, representing three heterosexual couples). Through thematic analysis, three themes were found to represent the primary lived experiences of couples residing in India and in the United States. Based upon these themes, specific implications for professional counselors are highlighted.

This article explores incorporating 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) as an adjunct in emotionally focused couples therapy (EFT) with clients in which at least one participant has endured a traumatic experience and reports symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite classification as a Schedule I drug on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), in 2017 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated MDMA as a “breakthrough therapy” in the treatment of PTSD and approved plans for a Phase 3 clinical trial sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. This article aims to integrate previous and current research involving the therapeutic use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy into the treatment of PTSD with the systemic, evidence-based approach of EFT.

Researchers have uncovered connections between the experience of childhood traumas and later symptoms, both psychological and physiological. This article highlights, specifically for family counselors, the need for increased attention to physical expressions of childhood trauma in adulthood. This discussion enriches our systemic understanding of the way trauma alters both psychological and physiological processes. Preliminary analyses from a pilot study (N = 24) are presented from a small sample of individuals having an endocrine disorder whose symptoms correlated significantly with various childhood traumatic experiences. Our preliminary results highlight the importance of counselors having some basic knowledge of not only how trauma may influence cognitive and emotional processes but physical ones as well. Clinical practice implications are discussed.

As there is growing awareness of the importance of healthy relationships among helping professionals and the general population, there is a need to gain a greater understanding of the types of supportive resources and services that can help people build and maintain healthy relationships across different areas of life. This article addresses the findings from an exploratory research study that utilized a mixed-methods approach to examine couples, single adults, and parents’ perceptions of what resources are needed to promote healthy relationships and what barriers currently hinder them from seeking and obtaining such services. Results are discussed in context of the study’s limitations, and implications for practice and future researchers are addressed.

The use of integrative models in family, marriage, and individual counseling continues to show promising therapeutic results. The basic concept of theoretical integration involves a purposeful combination of principles, practices, and common factors from different theories. This form of therapy has been employed for the past 50 years and has provided therapists with numerous techniques which have shown to be effective for a variety of clinical issues. The present article provides clarity on what integrative therapy is, its history, and coverage on its advantages and disadvantages. In addition, a literature review of existing integrative models and contemporary family models is provided. The article further covers Dr. Jay Lebow’s integrative systemic therapy, its importance, modes of operation, barriers, and its implication and future in marriage and family counseling.

Although twins belong to the same family, they experience unique challenges throughout their life span. If counselors recognize the family issues involved in the unique concerns of twins, counselors can more effectively counsel twins. This article will explore the twin bond and the close relationship that twins share. Specifically, both strengths and weaknesses of the twin bond will be depicted. A case example will demonstrate common concerns among twin clients, and a case conceptualization will be included. By identifying the family issues experienced by twins, counselors will be more successful in addressing twin clients’ needs. Implications for counseling and future research will be recommended.

Older adults and their families may encounter difficulties as they transition from independent living to a dependent living environment. The stress of daily coping and illness can disrupt the family life cycle. The authors have created a theoretically based model: the dependent living success model (DLSM) to assist family counselors when exploring this life transition. Specifically, the authors integrate four theories: successful aging theory, Elder’s life course perspective, Schlossberg’s transition theory, and Nolan’s senses framework to provide a model for how to work with aging adults and their families during the transition to dependent care. There is a dearth of literature to assist family counselors in conceptualizing this part of the life course. The DLSM intends to start the conversation with the older person and their family and provide some strategies and interventions to increase a more successful transition.

Attachment theory predicts that family bereavement leads even securely attached individuals to experience temporary attachment insecurity. This article explores how incoherence, a narrative marker of attachment insecurity, is displayed in the talk of families undergoing bereavement family therapy. This study uses the lens of attachment theory, and specifically the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), to explore how members of five families talked about the loss of a close family member and how interactions between therapist and family members could hinder a coherent dialogue about the death. The families were recruited through Winston’s Wish, a UK-based family bereavement charity. The analysis centers on the “Telling the story” intervention, used at the start of therapy, in which family members together tell the story of the death. Families also retold the story in an extra family session toward the end of the therapy for the purposes of this research. Transcripts of the therapy sessions were analyzed using thematic analysis, with some codes developed directly from the unresolved loss codes of the AAI and other codes generated from analyzing the transcripts through the lens of attachment theory. Through a micro focus on therapy process, the study provides tentative support for suppositions in attachment theory about the psychological importance of (fostering) coherent speech as well as information about potentially helpful versus unhelpful therapist actions in family bereavement therapy. The findings have relevance for bereavement therapy interventions, therapy training, and research practice.