A Pilot Study in Marital Group Therapy: Process and Outcome

Abstract

A marital group intervention was developed to address communication, conflict, forgiveness, and reconciliation. This article reviews the history of marital group intervention and presents a description of an 8-week marital group intervention. Results indicated improvement in forgiveness skills, anger expression, and marital satisfaction at posttest, and atrophy of most gains at follow-up.

An Empirical Investigation Into Justice, Grace, and Forgiveness

“…The RCRM consists of two cycles: conflict and restoration. The conflict cycle, characterized by the interactions between one’s experience of pain and one’s defensive reactions as a result of this pain, has been supported in multiple empirical studies (Beckenbach, Patrick, & Sells, 2010; Bokar, 2006; Bokar, Sells, Giordano, & Tollerud, 2011; Sells, Giordano, & King, 2002). The purpose of the conflict cycle is to address the problem described by Giblin and Combs (2003) as, “A wife’s negativity appears to promote her husband’s withdrawal .…”

Forgiveness in Marriage: Current Status and Future Directions

“…There is emerging evidence that marital quality predicts forgiveness (Paleari et al, 2003), as well as data that trait forgiveness predicts later marital satisfaction (Vaughan, 2001). It also appears that forgiveness‐based interventions may boost marital satisfaction (Alvaro, 2001; Sells, Giordano, & King, 2002).…”

“…Although forgiveness unfolds naturally in many marriages, at times couples may seek the help of a professional in the aftermath of painful transgressions. Several interventions have been shown to increase forgiveness in romantic relationships (Gordon, Baucom, & Snyder, 2004;Rye & Pargament, 2002;Sells et al, 2002), and various models of forgiveness have been used to develop these interventions. Stage/ phase models (Hargrave & Sells, 1997;McCullough, Worthington, & Rachal, 1997) lend themselves particularly well to therapy, provided clinicians recognize that these stages may overlap or occur out of order (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000;Gordon et al, 2000).…”

The Validity of the Relational Conflict Model

“…Psychological pain in the context of suicide is connected to emotions such as fear, shame, anxiety, rejection, and unhappiness (Schneidman, 1981) and is considered a negative emotion causing life-threatening behaviors (Jobes et al, 2004). Pain has been examined as a variable defined by a self-awareness of the presence of negative effects (Schneidman, 1981) and has been described as a violation of love and trust (Hargrave, 1994;Hargrave & Sells, 1997;Sells et al, 2002).…”