Gender, attachment, and demand/withdraw patterns in the context of moderate couple conflict in cisgender, heterosexual relationships.

A common pattern in couple relationships is demand/withdraw. Within this pattern, one partner seeks connection, change, and resolution of the issue, whereas the other seeks to end the discussion and limit closeness. We sought to further understand and update the literature by examining the relationship of gender and attachment (both self-report and narrative discourse) with demand/withdraw behaviors during moderate couple conflict.

Power dynamics in couple relationships: A review and applications for systemic family therapists.

Power dynamics, generally defined as the patterns of partners enacting or resisting influence, are inherent in all relationships. Power structures and processes play a role in people's perceptions of themselves and others, their feelings and emotions, and both their implicit and explicit behaviors. As such, understanding power dynamics is crucial for fully conceptualizing and intervening within relationships.

An attachment perspective on couple interaction: Helping couples signal needs clearly and respond appropriately.

Attachment theory provides some important insights into couple relationships, including highlighting the importance of communicating one's needs clearly while also having a partner who is properly attuned and appropriately responsive to those needs. The purpose of this study was to provide an initial empirical examination of the signal-response dynamic. More specifically, we used data from 63 couples to examine the efficacy (in terms of psychophysiological arousal and feelings toward their partner) of a micro-intervention designed to help couples improve their signaling and responding when compared to a seminatural condition where the discussion more closely resembled how couples interact at home.

Randomized controlled trial of emotionally focused couple therapy compared to treatment as usual for depression: Outcomes and mechanisms of change.

This randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for depression and relationship satisfaction versus usual care (i.e., couple therapy other than EFT), and explored mechanisms of change.

Anger Can Help: A Transactional Model and Three Pathways of the Experience and Expression of Anger.

Anger is a significant human emotion with far-reaching implications for individuals and relationships. We propose a transactional model of anger that highlights its relational relevance and potentially positive function, in addition to problematic malformations. By evolutionary design, physical, self-concept, or attachment threats all similarly trigger diffuse physiological arousal, psychologically experienced as anger-emotion.

Attachment Change in the Beginning Stages of Therapy: Examining Change Trajectories for Avoidance and Anxiety.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of self-reported attachment change (avoidance and anxiety) in the context of six sessions of couple therapy designed to emphasize both therapist-centered and couple-centered (i.e., enactment-based) clinical process during the beginning stages of therapy.

Diversity, social justice, and intersectionality trends in C/MFT: a content analysis of three family therapy journals, 2004-2011.

In this study, we analyzed the amount of attention given to diversity, social justice, and an intersectional approach to social inequalities over an 8-year period (769 articles) in three family therapy journals. Overall, 28.1% of articles addressed at least one diversity issue, and a social justice framework was utilized in 48.

An attachment primer for couple therapists: research and clinical implications.

According to attachment theory, humans are relational beings and even a child's earliest experiences with caregivers have a profound effect on emotional development and an overall approach to relationships. With increasing regularity, couple therapy has utilized attachment language as a conceptual tool, but more work is needed to understand the full clinical implications of attachment theory. These include understanding the intergenerational nature of attachment and adapting the delivery, timing, and pace of interventions to client attachment strategies.

Risk estimates for starting tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use in the United States: male-female differences and the possibility that 'limiting time with friends' is protective.

Background: A specific facet of parental monitoring is known as 'limiting time with friends' (LTF). Here, we aim to learn whether LTF-associated differences in adolescent risk of starting to use tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs now might be as large as observed male-female risk differences.

Methods: Data are from the US National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, with annual large scale nationally representative samples of community-dwelling civilian age 12 years and older, conducted 2002-2009.

Emotional congruence within couple interaction: the role of attachment avoidance.

Attachment strategies refer to the conscious representations individuals make of their relationships, including the level of perceived comfort and safety that relationships offer during distressing times. From early in life, some individuals learn the coping strategy of attachment avoidance. When distressed, these individuals shut down emotionally and seek to mask what they are feeling.

Facilitated disclosure versus clinical accommodation of infidelity secrets: an early pivot point in couple therapy. Part 1: couple relationship ethics, pragmatics, and attachment.

A critical and potentially polarizing decision in treating infidelity is whether facilitating partner disclosure or accommodating nondisclosure is most beneficial following private disclosure of infidelity to the therapist. Given couple distress and volatility following disclosure, understandably some therapists judge accommodating an infidelity secret both efficient and compassionate. Employing Western ethics and an attachment/intimacy lens, we consider ethical, pragmatic, and attachment intimacy implications of accommodating infidelity secrets.

Common pitfalls of beginning therapists utilizing enactments.

Empirical data, clinical observation, and theoretical rationales support use of enactments as a fundamental mechanism of change in relationship therapies. Yet beginning therapists may lack an adequate conceptual framework and operational training essential to effectively utilize enactments. Inadequate training may contribute to ineffective execution, and in turn to negative results, which could lead to abandonment of enactments.

The effect of proxy voice intervention on couple softening in the context of enactments.

In this study we evaluated the effectiveness of proxy voice (therapist acting as client's "voice") intervention, embedded within couple enactments, on client-perceived softening. The primary research question was whether use of proxy voice would be more likely to bring about softening, or if its use was counterintuitive to enactment conceptualization and would elicit struggle behavior (e.g.