A107 Bad Couples Therapy: How to Avoid Doing It

It's a well-known fact that most clinicians avoid couples therapy. As Jay Haley once said, it's perhaps the most difficult of all types of therapy to do well. This highly practical course will describe the common, though different, mistakes both beginning and experienced therapists make in couples work, and demonstrate specific steps we can take to avoid doing bad therapy. Through case examples and discussion, we'll explore how our values about commitment influence our work with couples for better or worse, particularly when couples are on the brink of divorce. We'll also discuss the common pitfalls of working with remarried couples. Whatever your approach, this workshop will make your couples therapy more effective.

Meet the Instructor

William Doherty, Ph.D., is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences. He received the Significant Contribution to the Field of Marriage and Family Therapy Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Citing his book Soul Searching and his work on morality and community in therapy, Utne magazine identified him as one of the 10 most innovative therapists practicing in the United States. His courses are noted for their clarity, organization, humor, and practical applicability. He's professor of Family Social Science and director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Minnesota. He's also the author of Take Back Your Marriage: Sticking Together in a World That Pulls Us Apart.

Course Contents

Session 1: Why Couples Therapy Is So Difficult • Documenting the problem • Basic mistakes, part 1

Session 2: Common Pitfalls of Couples Therapy and How to Avoid Them • Basic mistakes, part 2 • How to structure couples sessions

Session 3: Advanced Mistakes and How to Avoid Them • How to not undermine couples' commitment • Working with our values about commitment

Session 4: Working with Couples on the Brink • Supporting commitment when feasible • Practical strategies for helping couples decide

Session 5: Doing Better by Remarried Couples • What therapists overlook about stepfamily dynamics • Special ways to work with remarried couples

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe common mistakes of inexperienced clinicians in couples work.
2. Describe common mistakes made by experienced clinicians in couples therapy.
3. Discuss how therapists' values determine how they deal with a couple's commitment issues.
4. Identify common mistakes therapists make when working with remarried couples.
5. Discuss the most effective couples therapy strategies