Family Therapy History

Couple and Family Therapy: History and Application Family therapy is a common type of psychotherapy technique used for untangling issues or developing existing relationships in a better way within families and intimate relationships. It is natural for families and couples to face communication problems which could end up in separation and similar effects. These problems could often occur as a result of skill deficits in the relationship, difficulty in problem solving, negative behaviours (infidelity, drinking problems etc.), lack of intimacy, feeling unsafe or not accepted by the other. Supposedly, people gained consciousness about these issues in the last few years. The crucial point after giving the decision to go to the therapy

Due to this, the couple must be seen as one patient [3]. Couple therapy has been proven to be beneficial for both couples and diagnoses in DSM such as anxiety disorders, MDD and sexual deviances [2]. Traditional behavioural couple therapy (TBCT) facilitates couples to cooperate and live together in a harmony. Regarding this Jacobson & Christensen (1998) created a model called “incorporate acceptance” for couples whom experience incompatibility [12]. Integrative behavioural couple therapy was also found by Christensen and Jacobson (1998) examining couple conflicts and aiming to help couple accept that all couples could feel incompatible as a natural course. General aim behind this therapy is to help couples get satisfaction and harmony out of their relationship [9]. IBCT model is inspired by TBCT, although TBCT aims to change any negativity to positive (behavioural exchange) and teach couples how to create a better communication pattern and focus on solutions when facing problems [9]. There are many debates on whether IBCT is more beneficial compared to TBCT and which therapy technique responds better or quicker. For instance, Baucom et al. (1998) and Chambless & Hollon (1998) suggested that TBCT is considered as the best treatment type in terms of efficacy and specificity. As TBCT focuses of “behavioural exchange”, couples make effort in making changes in a positive way and use positive reinforcement [5]. In TBCT, therapists strive for the weaknesses and strengths of the couples, goals (issues the couple would like to focus on) and length and organisation of the treatment as gathering these information are essential during intake assessments [10]. In a study conducted by Jacobson et al. (1984), it was found that 54.7% spouses showed dramatic improvement after receiving treatment although 35.3% were reported to be only recovered [11]. Due to these consistency issues,