1st Edition

Couples and Pregnancy Welcome, Unwelcome, and In-Between

By Barbara Jo Brothers Copyright 2000

    From Couples and Pregnancy: Welcome, Unwelcome, and In-Between, therapists will gain valuable insight into the profound psychological effects that pregnancy and birth have on a couple's relationship, especially on their experience of intimacy. However, as this unique book discusses, the nature of the impact on couples depends on the developmental stage of each person and the couple's ability to adapt to new circumstances. This intelligent guide also examines the challenges that confront couples who must deal with unwelcome pregnancies. Couples and Pregnancy provides you with successful techniques that can easily be adopted into your practice, enabling you to effectively help couples who are challenged by the emotional and life-changing event of parenthood.

    Couples and Pregnancy addresses the psychological as well as the therapeutic issues as a consequence of abortion and offers you insight into how you can think out of the box about the emotional fallout from this issue. You will discover suggestions for helping couples to strengthen their relationship while working through their issues, such as,

    • learning about the many feelings surrounding abortion as well as natural deaths of unborn children so you will have a perspective of the unique emotional effects on each parent
    • examining the stresses caused by couples going through fertility therapy as well as the negative effects stress can have on infertility
    • understanding the grief and future complications for therapy that the death of a baby, miscarriage, or abortion can have for clients who are trying to work through these past issues

      Couples and Pregnancy provides you with a unique perspective on the emotional complication of pregnancies, so you can gain insight into how every pregnancy leaves an impact on the parents for the rest of their lives. With this essential book, you will find valuable tips on how you can help the couple make a positive breakthrough and build a stronger relationship.

    • “We Are Only Activators”—Virginia Satir and the Mystery of Human Life: A Reflection (edited by Barbara Jo Brothers)
    • Pregnancy, Intimacy, and the Family Constitution (Andrew I. Schwebel)
    • Infertility, “Experientially Oriented” Couples Therapy and Subsequent Pregnancy (Peggy J. Kleinplatz)
    • Catastrophic Conditions in Couple Systems: Managing an Unwelcome Pregnancy (Barbara J. Lynch)
    • When Your Client’s Baby Dies (Deborah E. Rich)
    • Men and Post-Abortion Grief: Amendment, Resolution and Hope (E. Mark Stern)
    • Of Breasts and Men: Three Generations of Vampire Coupling (Gerald Schoenewolf)
    • Comment: “Of Breasts and Men”...and Use of Psychoanalytic Theory (Barbara Jo Brothers)
    •  Index
    • Reference Notes Included

    Biography

    Barbara Jo Brothers

    "...provides practical guidance the therapists working with couples and individuals around issues of fertility. I would recommend this book to counselors, social workers, and psychologists..." - Gina Wong-Wylie, Ph.D., Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering