Combined Therapy: Is This Modality More Effective for the Treatment of Troubled Marriages than the Individual or Conjoined Approach?

by Jane Gelsi, Ph.D.
 

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the reasons why analysts may well incorporate into practice the combined treatment approach with distressed couples. The study asks the question: Does the practice of combined therapy for troubled marriages have to fit the case at hand or can it be practiced with most couples in peril? This paper seeks to discover: Is the treatment of couples impeded or enhanced when couples are seen by a modern analyst also treating them as individual patients? The paper examines the transference dynamics when a clinician from a different theoretical orientation treats one of the spouses in individual treatment while the modern analyst sees the other partner individually as well. It also considers which countertransference resistances emerge in the analyst as the result of combining two modalities-individual and couple treatment. The study looks at the challenges that are currently confronting practitioners as they attempt to determine which treatment modality is best for the couple at risk.