The United States continues to become linguistically more diverse every year, with currently 21% of the population speaking a language other than English in the home. Multilingualism/bilingualism is often documented as a component of cultural diversity, yet there is limited literature of how this impacts the dynamics of couples and family therapy. Multilingualism/bilingualism can be an enriching experience for couples and families, and it can raise unique dynamics in the therapeutic process. This can be especially challenging for the monolingual clinician who is working within a multilingual system and trying to navigate cultural diversity. Thus, clinicians ought to: (a) be aware of personal assumptions and biases, (b) assume a nonjudgmental/curious stance to multilingualism, and (c) discuss with the couple/family how the use of language impacts their relationship. The purpose of this article is to distinctly identify the unique dynamics of multilingual/bilingual couples and families; implications for couples and family counselors are also discussed.
This study investigated the experiences of romantic couples who maintained their relationship when one partner transitioned gender. For this phenomenological study, 13 couples were interviewed as a dyad and individually. Relationship changes included improved communication skills and language changes, affirming sexual relationships, and redistribution of power within the couple dyad. Benefits of the gender transition included improved relationships overall, emergence of support from communities and loved ones, passing privilege, and improved awareness to social issues. Challenges included losing close relationships, difficulty with remaining patient in transition, and adjusting to new identities such as feeling queer invisibility or a loss of heterosexual privilege. Finally, couples shared that political issues in the current sociopolitical climate had a personal impact on their felt safety and daily lives. Clinical and empirical implications are discussed.
The purpose of this study was to compare males who were court ordered into domestic violence treatment (domestic violence offenders; DVOs) due to family violence against their female partner or spouse (n = 35) and a group of nonviolent males (n = 35) on facial emotion recognition and measures of self-identified empathy, cognitive ability, trauma history, and demographic information. A significant difference was found between the two groups in that DVOs were significantly less accurate in identifying sadness and fear, and identifying emotions of female faces compared to male faces. DVOs were also less accurate in identifying emotions at 40% and 60% emotional intensity when six primary emotions were combined. Clinical implications of the study include emphasizing emotion recognition in treatment for DVOs in order to ameliorate family violence.
The impact of legally mandated reporting of child abuse on the therapeutic relationship is discussed through a case study of a 13-year-old girl dating an 18-year-old boy. The challenges for the counselor navigating the legal and ethical requirements surrounding mandated reporting are explored in a systemic context. Suggestions for anticipating possible emotional responses of clients to mandated reporting are also offered as well as implications for family counselors.
The present study examined the factor structure of the Family of Origin Scale (FOS) with a Greek population. A 7-factor solution using principal components analysis with oblique (oblimin) rotation emerged. The findings in general support the psychometric properties of the FOS, which may be used for research purposes in Greece.
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