By Rich Simon As therapists, many of us practice in two different worlds. In the first, we see polite, well-behaved, articulate clients with solid values. They engage fully in therapy, talk cogently about their problems, listen attentively to our responses, make reasonably good-faith efforts to follow our suggestions, and sooner or later get better. No wonder we genuinely like these people! 
By Rich Simon A thousand years ago, during the palmy days of generous insurance reimbursement, therapists could maintain the illusion that, since therapy was paid for by an unseen hidden hand, clinical practice was somehow untouched by the tacky subject of money. Even the style of therapy reflected this disjunction: 
CE Credits: 3 • Price: $39Yet, in the past 25 years, some of the field’s foremost scientist-practitioners have created a virtual science of marriage and established a range of empirically validated therapy interventions for a whole range of couples issues. In this Reading Course, Katy Butler accompanies John and Julie Gottman as they present workshops on their surprisingly common-sense approach to marital therapy, based on 30 years of path-breaking research. Susan Johnson demonstrates Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy, an intervention based on attachment theory and one of the best validated couples treatment methods in North America. Esther Perel discusses the toll that the birth of a child can take on a marriage and how to help couples reclaim their own relationship as new parents. Jay Lebow offers an enlightening tour of the latest research on couples therapy. Ashley Prend explores how Buddhist mindfulness practice can make divorce less traumatic by helping even hostile partners cultivate a spirit of generosity and compassion toward each other. Rosalind Barnett and Caryl Rivers discuss popular gender stereotypes of the “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” variety, which actually tend to undermine couples relationships.
Course Readings
The Art and Science of Love: Can the Gottmans Bring Empirical Rigor to the Intuitive World of Couples Therapy? by Katy Butler
Small Things Often: The Gottman Method in a Nutshell by Katy Butler
Are You There for Me? Understanding the Foundations of Couples Conflict by Susan Johnson
When Three Threatens Two: Must Parenthood Bring Down the Curtain on Romance? by Esther Perel
Scoreboard for Couples Therapy: Which Are the Winners in the Latest Research? by Jay Lebow
Divorcing Well: Bringing Buddhist Practice to Divorce Counseling by Ashley Prend
The Mars and Venus Myth: Uncovering the Stealth Assault on Feminism by Rosalind Barnett and Caryl Rivers
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the qualities of “successful” couples.
2. Discuss how relationship conflicts and resolved and couples are healed.
3. List some three ways that children can threaten the emotional life of a couple.
4. Describe what it means to “divorce well.”
© 2013 Psychotherapy Networker