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Cost-effectiveness of marital therapy was examined beginning with a simple question: If government or health insurers paid for the screening and, where indicated, empirically supported treatment of 100,000 randomly selected married persons (i.e., 50,000 couples) from the general population, would the financial benefits outweigh costs? Two empirically supported forms of marital therapy, behavioral marital therapy and emotionally focused therapy, were considered in aggregate as possible treatments of choice. Marital therapy appears to be cost-effective when paid for by government to reduce public costs of divorce or when paid for by insurers to offset the increased health-care expenses associated with divorce. Implications and specific needs for future research to substantiate these conclusions are discussed.

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Doctoral education in marital and family therapy (MFT) plays a crucial role in the future of the field. In this article, I write about the purposes, diversities, and futures of MFT doctoral education from the perspective of having hired 18 full-time MFT faculty over the last 13 years. I argue that the field needs well-rounded doctoral-level academics and clinicians who have a solid understanding of the foundations of the field and have mastery around theory, clinical practice, and scholarship in order to advance the profession of Marriage and Family Therapy.