Let's Learn Together - Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling by Worthington

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	Full Title:	Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling A Guide to Brief Therapy
	Author(s):	Everett L. Worthington Jr.
	Publishing / Edition:	InterVarsity Press, 2005

Click here for the Table of Contents of the book

Hope-Focused Marriage Therapy
Advances In Our Understanding of Marriage

Marriage Is Usually Beneficial
Marriage, Not just Living Monogamously, Is Good for People
Seeing Marriage as a Covenant, Not a Contract, Can Make Marriages Last Longer
The Five-to-One Gottman Ratio Ain't as Simple as It Looks
Being a Bulldog About Solving Problems Will Often Bite You in the End
It Matters If You Cool Off After an Argument
Whining Accusations Keep People Mired in Negative Emotions
When Conflict Dramatically Worsens, It's Time to Take Problems Seriously
Negative Thoughts and Emotions Are Intertwined
You Can't Predict Everything with Behavior
Stress and Personal Factors Increase Negative Emotions
Personal Issues Are More Important Than We Thought
What Are the Implications for This Book?

Advances In Couples Therapy

Evidence-Based Couples Therapy

Strengths of Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling

Focus on the Christian View of Hope
Easily Remembered Definition of Love
Focus on Faith and Spirituality
Assessment at the Beginning of Counseling
Motivation for Couples to Do the Homework
Separation by Chapter of Different Areas of Marriage
Emphasis on the Emotional Bond

Advances In Enrichment and Prevention

Research on Hope-Focused Marriage Enhancement and Its Components
Post-1998 Research
Other Studies of Forgiveness

Invitation
References

Chapter 1.

Walking Through The Valley of The Shadow of Marital Death

An Overview of the Book and Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling
Effectiveness (or Ineffectiveness) of Most Marital Counseling
Is the Goal I Stated Appropriate?
Conjoint Marital Counseling: The Preferred Approach
Hope-Starved Marriages

Marital Counseling: Brief or Briefer

Who Benefits from Brief Therapies?
Thinking Brief
Not Merely Time
Does Brief Marital Counseling Change the Causes of Marital Discord?
Is Hope-Focused Marital Counseling Consistent with Scripture?
What Are the Implications of Brief Marital Counseling for Practice?
What Are the Major Differences Between My Previous Traditional Approach and the New Approach?

Summary

Chapter 2.

Forming and Maintaining a Good Relationship with Each Partner
Goal: Better Marriage, Less Divorce
Focus: Promote Hope
Strategy: Correct Weaknesses In Love, Faith, and Work

The Strategy
Definitions
Teaching and Using a Strategy

Target: Areas of Change

Assess and Give Feedback

Interventions: Planning Sensible Counseling

Making Change Sensible
Planning Different Actions in Different Stages of Counseling
Employing Strategically Informed Tactics
Tailoring Treatment to Fit Clients
Setting Time Limits
Planning Each Session in Writing
Being Flexible

Overview

Chapter 3.

Conceptualizing The Cause of Marital Troubles

Discipleship
The Primary Cause of Marital Problems: Loss of Love
One Secondary Cause: Losing Faith
Another Secondary Cause: Reducing Work on the Marriage
Overall

Manifestations of The Loss of Love, Faith, and Work

People's Underlying Needs
Relationship Histories
Marital Interactions
The Marital Relationship

The Solution
Promoting Hope
The Counseling Relationship In Promoting Hope

Helpful Interactions Between the Counselor and the Partners
- Valuing each partner
- Valuing the marriage
Unhelpful Interactions Between the Counselor and the Partners

Practical Actions In Promoting Hope
Presuppositions In Promoting Hope
Defeating Doubt In Promoting Hope
Summary

Chapter 4.

Central Beliefs and Values

Love
Self
Commitment

Core Vision of Marriage
Confession and Forgiveness

The Road-Test of Love
Reconciliation

The Daily Operation of Marriage
Communication

Types of Communication Problems
Loving Communication

Conflict Resolution
Cognition
Closeness

Distance, Coaction, and Intimacy
Types of Closeness

Commitment

Contracts and Covenants
Commitment's Components

Summary

Chapter 5.

Initial Phone Contact
Having Partners Complete Assessment Instruments
Precounseling Videotape

What the Research Shows
How I View Precounseling Videotapes

Pamphlet
Summary

Chapter 6.

Initial Assessment

Intake Form
The First Session
Evaluations of the Nine Areas of Marriage
First-Interview Observation of Communication and Conflict Resolution
Questionnaires
Prognosis
Your Written Assessment Report

Assessment During Ongoing Counseling

Your Clinical Observations
Couples' Improvement or Lack of Improvement
Your Own Reactions to the Clients
Brief Summary

Assessment Prior To The Final Session
Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Chapter 7.

Your Attitude Toward Clients' Values: Respect
Revealing Your Own Values

Revealing Your Values During Counseling

Assessing Clients' Values

Using Homework to Find Out About Central Values
Using Homework to Promote Awareness of Central Values

Challenging Clients' Values

General Tactics for Challenging Values
Using Homework to Help a Partner Think About Your Challenge
Expect to Deal with This Value

Summary

Chapter 8.

Assessing The Core Vision

Exploring the Core Vision Through Taking Histories
Assessing the Current Vision of the Marriage
Get a Summary Statement of the Marital Vision

Changing The Core Vision

Three Basic Steps in Changing the Core Vision
Dealing with Painful Memories
Using Homework to Get Closer to the Fleshed-Out Vision
Dealing with Unrealistic Aspects of the Vision
Changing the Emotional Climate of the Marriage
Having Partners Express Their Love to Each Other
Revising the Vision Statement

Summary

Chapter 9.

Confession and Forgiveness

Who's Responsible?
Becoming Experts
What the Counselor Has to Work With

Promoting Confession

Preparing Partners to Deal with Confession and Forgiveness
Steps for Promoting Confession

Promoting Forgiveness

Helping People Prepare to Forgive
Dealing with Difficulties in Forgiving
Helping People Walk Through the Steps of Forgiving

Helping People Forgive After Conflict
Summary

Chapter 10.

Principles for Training the Couple in Better Communication

Easy-to-Make Errors
An Effective Training Method
Help Both Partners Know the Objective of Training
Communicating Faith Working Through Love
Making Couples Aware of Their Communication Patterns

Training Couples to Better Communicate Love

Helping Couples Communicate Love Directly
Helping Partners Communicate Love Positively
Helping Couples Communicate Love by Listening
Helping Partners Communicate Love by Sharing Information
Helping Partners Communicate Love by Sharing Their Experiences
Helping Partners Communicate Love by Sharing Feelings
Helping Couples Communicate Love by Sharing Their Values
Helping Couples Communicate Love by Creating Time and Opportunities to Communicate
Helping Couples Avoid Devaluing Communications

Beyond Leveling and Editing

Chapter 11.

Preparing the Couple to Resolve Conflicts
Increasing Partners' Awareness of Their Conflict and Resolution

Increasing Awareness of Topics of Disagreement
Increasing Awareness of How Partners Try to Resolve Conflict
Discovering What Happens When Partners Disagree

Helping Couples Stop Devaluing Each Other

Increasing the Ratio of Positive to Negative Interactions
Helping Couples Avoid Pulling Triggers
Helping Couples Stop Cross-Complaining
Helping Couples Stop Personalizing Issues

Helping Couples Value Each Other

Presenting the LOVE Acrostic
Teaching Couples to Listen and Repeat
Teaching Couples to Observe Their Effects
Teaching Couples to Value Their Partners
Teaching Couples to Evaluate Both Partners' Interests
If You Need More...

Dealing with the Couple's Failures

How Couples Can Deal with a Partner's Perceived Attack
Dealing with Your Own Disappointment as the Counselor

Dealing with the Couple's Successes
Summary

Chapter 12.

Guidelines for Changing Partners' Cognition

Should You Deal with Partners' Cognition?
Change Cognition by (First) Teaching the Cognitive Paradigm
Change Cognition by (Second) Changing Specific Cognition
Correcting Couples with Poor Actions and Cognition
Negative Cognition Might Be True
Changing Cognition to Focus on Love, Work, and Faith

Teaching The Cognitive Paradigm
Reducing Negative Thinking

Making Partners Aware of Their Negativity
Focusing on the Positive Aspects of Negative Behavior
Making the Negative Thinking More Positive
Using Journals and Thought Logs

Changing Attributions of Blame

Helping Partners Respond with Acceptance Rather than Blame
Keeping a Record of Attempts to Change Attributions

Changing Negative Expectations About The Marriage
Changing Negative Assumptions About The Marriage

Maria and Bobby: A Case Study
Changing Partners' Standards for the Marriage

Summary

Chapter 13.

Some Guidelines for Dealing with Closeness
Increase Partners' Awareness of Closeness Patterns

Emphasizing the Possibility of Improvement
Making Couples Aware of Their Intimacy Deficiency
Creating a Physical Representation of Intimacy

Cleave: Organizing Interventions to Promote Closeness
Changing Actions to Positive

The Love Bank and Associated Interventions
Dealing with Objections to Love-Bank Homework

Loving Romance

Draw on the Couple's Memories of Romance
Using the Office to Explore Emotional Closeness

Structuring Time Together

Adjusting Time Schedules
Establishing Bounded Couple Time
Reading Together

Adjusting Intimacy Elsewhere

Breaking Up the Emotional Distancer-Pursuer Pattern
Helping Develop Spiritual Intimacy

Valuing One's Partner
Enjoying Oneself and One's Partner Sexually

Assessing Sexual Functioning
Treating Sexual Problems
Needed: Good Information About Sex

Summary

Chapter 14.

Guidelines for Promoting Commitment

Minimizing Heavy-Handed Emphasis on Shoulds
Assuming a Lifelong Commitment
Securing an Explicit Commitment to Try
Promoting a Commitment to Therapy
Promoting a Commitment to Work Outside of Therapy

Avoiding Divorce

Threats of Divorce
Couples' Beliefs on Divorce
When the Threat of Divorce Goes Public
Staying Together for the Sake of the Kids

Commitment to Marriage: Covenant or Contract?

Promoting Covenantal Commitment to God
Matching Your Rationale to Your Clients
Teaching Directly About Covenantal Commitment
Correcting Commitment Drift

Strengthening The Components of Commitment

Helping Partners Become More Satisfied with Their Marriage
Eliminating Competitors to the Marriage
Sharing Investments

Solidifying A Strengthened Commitment
Summary

Chapter 15.

Promoting Commencement
Developing Independence As Commencement Approaches

Difficulties of Ending Counseling
Encouraging Independence

Having Partners Summarize What They Learned
Have Partners Plan What They Will Do Next
Creating a Joshua Memorial
Discussing the Final Assessment Report
Opening the Door to Additional Counseling
Taking Stock of What You Learned as a Counselor

Learning from Failures
Learning from Successes
Being More Creative as a Counselor and Theorist

Chapter 16.

Twelve Essential Components That Define The Approach
Testable Propositions
Twelve Semi-Essential Interventions
Drawing From Many Approaches
Some Theological Musings
God Is In Control

Content Review

The sequel to this book is Couple Therapy, written with Jennifer Ripley.

[In Progress...]

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