First published in 1996, this enlightening book about facilitating therapeutic change within the couple relationship opens with a transcript of one of a series of lectures by Virginia Satir. It presents readers with Satir’s observations – observations that show the difference between thinking with systems in mind and thinking linearly – of process, interrelatedness and attitudes. Readers will find these and the observations of contributors that follow full of practical application potential. In this title the editor brings together contributors who show how to affect change in couples by explaining dynamics of the male/female relationship and by expanding upon the roles of the therapist. Specifically, contributors give readers information about: Male/female relationships over a 30, 000-year history and how history may have affected present day relationships between men and women Therapists as merely resource providers who facilitate self-discovery and self-solutions The necessity of marital therapy in maintaining stability and change from both systemic-interpersonal and intrapersonal perspectives Psychodynamic, affective and insight-oriented, marital therapy The consultative conversation model and its relationship to the change process in couples therapy Fostering change of psychological (emotional and verbal) abuse Why women leave abusive relationships The use of a specific physical posture for assessing a couple’s interactive style Therapists who work with couples will keep Couples and Change within reach and refer to it often as they help couples develop more healthy, satisfying relationships.

First published in 1974, then reissued in 1986 with a long introduction by the author, which developed the analysis in the light of recent theory and related it to work done in the field since its first publication. The late Peter Marris shows how understanding grief can help us to understand processes of change, both personal and social, and to handle them with more compassion for ourselves and others. He sees grieving as the working out of a psychological reintegration, whose principles are essentially similar whether the ‘structures of meaning’ of our life fall apart from the loss of a personal relationship, of a predictable social context or of an interpretable world. Marris draws on his wide-ranging research to develop his argument. A study of widows, a description of the devastating effects of urban renewal projects on people whose familiar neighbourhoods are destroyed, an analysis of the activities of tribal associations in Nigeria, and reflections on the analogies between scientific and political revolutions are a few of the studies Marris weaves together in tracing the meaning of change and loss in human life.

Originally published in 1987 this book was designed to present the most recent research data on assessment of various aspects of marriage. Noted authorities on specific assessment areas provide information on conceptual and practical issues in marital assessment. The chapters include assessment of: behavior; affect; social cognition; communication; sexual dysfunction; child and marital problems; family assessment. All the chapters include reference to specific assessment measures of the areas covered. In addition, for clinical use, one has been selected by each of the authors to represent a state of the art measure that can be used by clinicians. Reliability, validity, and normative data are presented on these measures, which appear in full in the appendix of the text. O'Leary provides a context for this book in the first chapter of the book, and in the final chapter, discusses with his co-author how they begin their assessments, from the initial phone contact, the assessment battery, the interviews with the clients and the couple, to the evaluation of the therapy sessions by the clients.

The family therapy movement had from its earliest days been marked by a surge of creativity and by the energy of the new ideas it generated. Originally published in 1979, the authors of the original essays collected together in this book felt that the time had come to take stock and to scrutinise more carefully the meaning and effectiveness of this new psychotherapeutic method within the particular conditions prevailing Britain at the time. The book focuses on issues relating to theory, research and practice and, while concentrating on three sub-specialities of family therapy – family group therapy, marital therapy and network therapy – the papers cover a wide variety of topics. In addition to papers by practitioners and teachers of family therapy, two contributions are included from the field of academic psychology. Before this, much of the family therapy literature had been presented in the form of an uncritical eulogy of the method. The special interest of this book lies in its attempt to bring a critical perspective to bear upon family therapy and its application. Moreover, in contrast with much that had been previously written, the authors sought to make a distinctive contribution to the development of family therapy through their effort to integrate, rather than to polarise, what is valuable within a variety of different theoretical and empirical approaches.

In his earlier book Rational-Emotive Therapy: Fundamentals and Innovations Dr Dryden outlined the central features of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) as it had developed in and from the work of Albert Ellis. He then proceeded to discuss innovations within the theory, several of which had been instigated by the author. Originally published in 1987, this book builds upon these latter elements. It discusses the theoretical basis of RET, arguing that it can be accurately described as theoretically consistent eclectic therapy, and analyses the problems encountered in, and the benefits derived from, its practice. At the time this book provided a state of the art discussion of RET and will still be of interest for those involved in counselling, psychotherapy, clinical psychology, psychiatry and social work.

Originally published in 1992, the editors of this volume fulfill three main goals: to take stock of progress in the development of data-analysis procedures for single-subject research; to clearly explain errors of application and consider them within the context of new theoretical and empirical information of the time; and to closely examine new developments in the analysis of data from single-subject or small n experiments. To meet these goals, this book provides examples of applicable single-subject research data analysis. It presents a wide variety of topics and perspectives and hopes that readers will select the data-analysis strategies that best reflect their methodological approaches, statistical sophistication, and philosophical beliefs. These strategies include visual analysis, nonparametric tests, time-series experiments, applications of statistical procedures for multiple behaviors, applications of meta-analysis in single-subject research, and discussions of issues related to the application and misapplication of selected techniques.

Originally published in 1991, the theme for this title is the exploration of the components of lasting, long-term relationships. It begins with the first part of an interview between Sheldon Starr and Virginia Satir, made in 1985 and is followed by a comment on that interview by the Editor. Other chapters discuss the subject of falling in love and the notion of ‘being in love’ as distinguished from ‘a love relationship’. The authors, including some who have been married for many years themselves, look at the many aspects that make long-term relationships successful. The chapters range in essence from ‘What is love?’ to ‘How is love maintained?’. This title aims to share the information the authors have gained, about what makes coupling work, with society as a whole.