Common Dilemmas in Couple Therapy

Common Dilemmas in Couple Therapy addresses four common problems that couples therapists face everyday in their offices -- problems that leave therapists exhausted, drained, challenged, alive, racing, and on edge. These dilemmas encompass not only the difficult challenges therapists face everyday, but also the passions and profound disappointments of human intimate partnerships. The purpose of this book is not only to explore and give case illustrations of these dilemmas, but also to give therapists strategies to use and help them understand and handle their own profound experiences while doing this work.

Table of Contents:
Section I: Dealing with a Difficult Partner. Types of Difficult Partners. Overview. Therapy Strategies: Offensive Difficult Partners. Therapy Strategies: Various Types of Difficult Partners. Section II: Secrets in Couple Therapy. Issues about Secrets. The Dynamics of Secrets. The Challenge of Working with Secrets in Couple Therapy. Guidelines and Strategies for Therapists. Section III: Dealing with a Partner Who Won’t/Can’t Change. The Dynamics of "Crossover" Issues in Couple Relationships. Therapists Roles, Experiences, and Strategies. Section IV: The Breakup of a Couple Relationship. The Dynamics of a Breakup. The Stages of Breakup, Therapy Strategies, and the Therapist’s Roles and Experiences.

Review :
"A professionally wise and passionate resource. In this book Judith Leavitt offers an abundance of relevant theory, skillful direction, and effective thechniques for helping relationship therapists successfully handle some of our toughest cases." --Wendy Maltz, LCSW, DST, author of The Sexual Healing Journey and The Porn Trap "In this phenomenologically-based volume, Leavitt deals with some of the most common yet challenging themes in couples therapy;scholarly dissecting them, offering solutions, and clarifying the therapist's role." --Gerald R. Weeks, PhD, ABPP, author, professor and chair of the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, University of Nevada-Las Vegas "With empathy and eclectic uses of strateiges and techniques, Judith Leavitt provides experience therapises the opportunity to examine in detail the common dilemmas they face in one of the most challenging types of therapy." --Barry McCarthy, PhD, author and professor of psychology at American University "This book certainly fills a gap in the literature by candidly discussing some of the more frustrating and discouraging issues therapists encounter in couples work. She is direct and honest in her discussions about what it feels like to work with difficult couple issues. She does an exceptionally good job of helping therapists consider the boundaries between their responsibility in the room and the clients'. Her refreshing honesty, descriptions of these difficult issues, and potential strategies make this book an especially good choice for a beginning couples therapist." -Bobbi J. Miller, Ph.D., LMFT, Saint Louis University, MO, in the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, Vol. 10, Issue 3 "This is an excellent read for experienced couple therapists. Beginning couple therapists will find this text very useful as a guide when first faced with any one of these dilemmas, as it will help to clarify thinking when feeling stuck or overwhelmed by couples' emotions." - Julia Greer, psychoanalytic psychotherapist and couple therapist, in Therapy Today May 2010