Way of being and the therapeutic pyramid: Expanding the application of a common factors meta-model.

Common factors proponents have suggested the need for principle-based meta-models to explain how various factors interact with each other to produce change. The therapeutic pyramid is a common factors meta-model that outlines how therapeutic skills and techniques, the therapeutic alliance, and a therapist's way of being interactive to produce therapeutic change. Skills and techniques occupy the smallest top portion of the pyramid, with the therapeutic alliance in the middle and a therapist's way of being forming the foundation of the pyramid.

What Does it Mean to be a Common Factors Informed Family Therapist?

The common factors paradigm in couple and family therapy has gained popularity over the past several decades, leading many therapists to refer to themselves as common factors family therapists. Despite this, no consensus exists on what it means to be a common factors family therapist, or if such a designation even makes sense given that the common factors paradigm is not a model. Synthesizing the existing common factors literature, a case is made for the designation "common factors informed family therapist," and the following six core principles are outlined that characterize this designation: (1) sees overlap among theories; (2) passionate about theory, not a theory; (3) client centered; (4) monitors hope and the therapeutic alliance; (5) views clients as people rather than objects; and (6) prioritizes healing over therapy.

Covenant Attachment: A Constructivist Grounded Theory of Christian Couples and God.

The purpose of this constructivist grounded theory study was to develop a deeper understanding of the relational system of married couples and God. We interviewed nine marital couples from Christian denominations that reported having a strong relationship with each other and with God together. We used constructivist grounded theory techniques presented by Charmaz (2006) and analyzed emergent categories of behaviors, emotions, and cognitions to construct a theory and model of Christian marital couples and their shared relationship with God.

Nurturing Nature: Exploring Ecological Self-of-the-Therapist Issues.

Much has been written about the systemic effects of families and culture on individual well-being. Seldom discussed, however, are the systemic effects of our relationship with the larger ecological system in which all families and cultures are embedded. A case is made for the importance of nature in family therapy.

Targeting Threats to the Therapeutic Alliance: A Primer for Marriage and Family Therapy Training.

Although theory and research highlight the importance of the client-therapist relationship, marriage and family therapy (MFT) training has historically centered on specific models, consisting of proprietary language and techniques, instead of common factors like the therapeutic alliance. In this article, we begin by making an argument for explicitly focusing on the therapeutic alliance in MFT training programs. Next, we highlight common alliance threats experienced by both faculty members and student therapists.

Strengthening the systemic ties that bind: integrating common factors into marriage and family therapy curricula.

Specific models guide the training of marriage and family therapists (MFTs) as they offer both structure and organization for both therapists and clients. Learning models may also benefit therapists-in-training by instilling confidence and preventing atheoretical eclecticism. The moderate common factors perspective argues that models are essential, but should not be taught as "the absolute truth," given there is no evidence for relative efficacy of one empirically validated model versus another, and no single model works in all instances.

The divide between "evidenced-based" approaches and practitioners of traditional theories of family therapy.

Evidenced-based approaches continue to grow in the field of family therapy. However, practicing family therapists do not always embrace these approaches. In this article, we explore factors contributing to practitioners' concerns with evidence-based treatments and suggest a broader, more clinically palatable view of evidenced-based treatment.

Therapist-worldview matching: not as important as matching to clients.

In this essay, we respond to Simon's article (2012). We discuss our view that therapy works best when therapists can match therapeutic interventions to the worldview of clients. We see this matching to client worldview as rooted in research evidence, and we suggest that therapists can practice authentically and effectively using more than one divergent therapy approach.

Common factors of change in couple therapy.

Though it is clear from meta-analytic research that couple therapy works well, it is less clear how couple therapy works. Efforts to attribute change to the unique ingredients of a particular model have consistently turned up short, leading many researchers to suggest that change is due to common factors that run through different treatment approaches and settings. The purpose of this article is to provide an empirically based case for several common factors in couple therapy, and discuss clinical, training, and research implications for a common factors couple therapy paradigm.

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.

What clients of couple therapy model developers and their former students say about change, part II: model-independent common factors and an integrative framework.

Proponents of the common factors movement in marriage and family therapy (MFT) suggest that, rather than specific models of therapy, elements common across models of therapy and common to the process of therapy itself are responsible for therapeutic change. This article-the second of two companion articles-reports on a study designed to further investigate common factors in couple therapy. We used grounded theory techniques to analyze data from interviews with MFT model developers Dr.

What clients of couple therapy model developers and their former students say about change, part I: model-dependent common factors across three models.

Some researchers have hypothesized that factors common across therapy models are largely responsible for change. In this study we conducted semi-structured, open-ended qualitative interviews with three different MFT model developers (Dr. Susan M.

Is who delivers the treatment more important than the treatment itself? The role of the therapist in common factors.

In this article, we discuss the role of the therapist in change in couple and family therapy. We argue that the therapist is a key change ingredient in most successful therapy. We situate our discussion in the common factors debate and show how both broad and narrow common factor views involve the therapist as a central force.

Enacting relationships in marriage and family therapy: a conceptual and operational definition of an enactment.

Enactments are a potential common clinical process factor contributing to positive outcomes in many relational therapies. Enactments provide therapists a medium for mediating relationships through simultaneous experiential intervention and change at multiple levels of relationships--including specific relationship disagreements and problems, interaction process surrounding these issues, and underlying emotions and attachment issues confounded with those problems. We propose a model of enactments in marriage and family therapy, consisting of three components--initiation operations, intervention operations, and evaluation operations.