Couple therapy in the 2020s: Current status and emerging developments

Abstract

This paper provides a critical analysis and synthesis of the current status and emerging developments in contemporary couple therapy. Its narrative centers on the evolution of couple therapy into a prominent intervention modality and coherent body of practice. The review begins with the consideration of the field's strong empirical underpinnings derived from research on couple therapy and basic relational science. Couple therapy comprises the widely accepted method for reducing relationship distress and enhancing relationship quality. Moreover, both as a stand‐alone intervention and in conjunction with other treatment formats, couple‐based interventions have garnered considerable empirical support for their effectiveness in addressing a broad spectrum of specific relational dysfunctions as well as individual emotional and physical health problems. We highlight the convergence of methods through common factors, shared strategies, and remarkably similar arrangements across approaches. Our review also points to key differences among approaches, the importance of recognizing respective strengths and limitations linked to these differences, and building on differences across models when selecting and tailoring interventions for a given couple. The discussion concludes with a consideration of recent trends in the field including the impact of telehealth and related digital technologies, the expansion of specific treatments for specific problems and diverse populations, the interface of couple therapy with relationship education, and enduring challenges as well as new opportunities addressing broader systemic and global dynamics.

Emotion Regulation in Couples Across Adulthood

“…Early romantic love can have intoxicating experiential, behavioral, physiological, and neurobiological qualities (Fisher et al 2006). Metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson 1980) in English and other languages (e.g., falling in love, tomber amoureux, sich Hals über Kopf verlieben, muerto de amor) point to one of many emotion regulation conundrums as individuals may perceive having preciously little control over their emotions in this stage. Another conundrum reminds us of the bivalent nature of couples' emotion regulation as individuals may experience both high highs-feelings of excitement, elation, and euphoria, extreme focus on the desired partner, being full of energy and having trouble sleeping (Fisher et al 2006)-and low lows, perhaps because of the enormous uncertainty of this phase (see also Silvers & Peris 2023).…”

Online coaching blended couple‐oriented intervention for preventing depression among Korean middle adulthood: A feasibility study

“…These therapies primarily focus on finding ways to improve relationships between distressed couples. However, several researchers have suggested that culturally tailored interventions combined with integrative techniques from different therapies should be developed (Bender et al, 2013; Lyon et al, 2014; Ponniah & Hollon, 2007; Salamanca‐Sanabria & Rchards, 2019) because they may offer the opportunity to improve cultural acceptability and enhance perceived efficacy in specific cultural contexts (Lebow, 2019; Lebow & Snyder, 2022).…”

Welcoming Melanie M. Domenech Rodríguez

“…The world of family research and couple/family therapy are much different now even than 11 years ago when I began as editor of the journal. We have seen a pandemic and with it monumental changes in how families interact and how relational therapies are practiced (previously video therapy was a relatively rare format for practice; Burgoyne & Cohn, 2020; de Boer et al, 2021; Stanley & Markman, 2020); the wide acceptance in parts of the world of new family forms (Addison & Coolhart, 2015; Green & Mitchell, 2015); a vast expansion in couple and family research and with that the emergence of shared understandings about essential factors in successful family life (Brock & Laifer, 2020; Lebow, 2021b); a broad acceptance of the need for a multicultural and intersectional perspective and the central place for advancing social justice (Bernal & Domenech Rodríguez, 2012b; Falicov et al, 2021; PettyJohn et al, 2020); the rise of repressive governments in some parts of the world and in parallel the politicization of the findings of family science and methods of couple and family therapy in relation to issues such as immigration, sexual orientation, and sexual preference (Lebow, 2021a; Sluzki, 2017); the movement of family scholarship to truly becoming international and with it a move away from the assumption that findings and clinical narratives in North America and Western Europe apply throughout the world (Kapadia et al, 2023; Watson et al, 2020); the emergence of better research, both quantitative and qualitative (Doss et al, 2022; Fiese et al, 2019; Tseliou et al, 2021); and a migration from scholarship anchored in specific, narrow theories to one that is more open and allows for a pluralism, anchored in pragmatics where many approaches and forms of intervention and integrative practice thrive (Fiese et al, 2019; Lebow & Snyder, 2022). What we publish in this journal is a vital barometer of that world.…”