THERAPISTS PERSPECTIVES OF COUPLE PROBLEMS AND TREATMENT ISSUES IN COUPLE THERAPY

Randomly selected samples of practicing couple therapists who were mem bers of the American Psychological Association's Division 43 or the As sociation for Marriage and Family Therapy completed a survey of couple problem areas and therapeutic issues encountered in couple therapy. T herapists rated problem areas in terms of occurrence, treatment diffic ulty, and damaging impact. A composite of these 3 dimensions suggested that the most important problems were lack of loving feelings, power struggles, communication, extramarital affairs, and unrealistic expect ations. Comparison of the findings with therapist ratings obtained by S. K. Geiss and K. D. O'Leary (1981) suggests considerable stability i n presenting problems in couple therapy over the past 15 years. Therap ist-generated characteristics associated with negative outcome were al so identified, the most common being partners' inability or unwillingn ess to change and lack of commitment.