1st Edition

The Anatomy of a Couples Therapy Session The 50 Minute Hour in Eight Stages

By Judith P. Leavitt Copyright 2018
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    How does a couples’ therapist actually run a 50–minute session? What needs to happen? What must happen? Managing this time and knowing how to guide a couple through what can be a rocky roller coaster ride is a critical skill. This volume breaks down the entire 50 minutes of a couple’s therapy session from beginning to end. It divides the 50 minutes into eight time period stages that may overlap. The distinctive characteristics and challenges of each time period are examined. Numerous case examples are given throughout the book. The couples therapist is addressed directly with many suggestions given for handling the situations that can arise in each period. In addition, the couples therapist’s own experiences during the session are explored.

    Introduction  Section I: THE LEAD-IN  1. Starting off  Section II: BEGINNING: The First 5 Minutes  2. Introduction and Open-ended or Structured Beginning  3. Other Important Factors at the Beginning  4. Bad Beginnings  Section III: FINDING DIRECTION: 5-10 minutes  5. Overview  6. Issues in Finding Direction  Section IV: ESTABLISHING THE WORK: 10-20 minutes  7. Introduction  8. Set up for the Work  9. The Developing Work: Productive, Trouble or Unproductive?  Section V: FULL STEAM AHEAD: 15-40 minutes  10. Introduction  11. Difficult Couples Therapy Sessions  12. Classic Couples Therapy Sessions  13. Special Types of Couples Therapy Sessions  14. Deeper Couple Therapy Sessions  15. Intervention Exercises  Section VI:  PULLING IT TOGETHER: 35-45 minutes  16. Introduction and “Ahas” 17. Further Issues to Consider During Pulling It Together  18. Case Vignettes and Example for Pulling It Together  19.  Obstacles during Pulling It Together  Section VII: ENDING: 45-50 minutes  20. Wrapping up  Section VIII: LEAVING  21. Departing  Section IX: SUMMARY CASE STUDY  22. Case Study

    Biography

    Dr. Judith P. Leavitt is a senior clinician, licensed psychologist, and Diplomate Certified Sex Therapist with over 35 years of clinical experience. She has a private practice in Wayland, Massachusetts, where she works with individuals, couples, and families. At the William James College, a graduate college in psychology in Newton, Massachusetts, she is an adjunct faculty teaching Couples Therapy and Human Sexuality.

    “The 8 basic stages of a couple therapy session are identified and explained with multiple variations depending on the couple, the problem and the relationship with the therapist. The text is a masterful, pragmatic, and heuristic guide for beginning as well as more seasoned therapists.” Gerald R. Weeks, Ph.D., ABPP, CST, Professor Emeritus, University of Nevada, Las Vegas