Main description:

A thought provoking, persuasive, challenging, and above all practical guide for beginners and more experienced therapists alike. It shows the demands and complexity of marital work and is an important reminder of the interdependence of theory and practice.

Contents:

Foreword -- Preface -- The Institutional Context -- The theory and practice of the Tavistock Institute of Marital Studies -- The Unconscious Contract in the Couple Relationship -- Introduction -- Unconscious communications between husband and wife -- Husbands and wives: the mysterious choice -- Relationships: interaction, defences, and transformation -- Marriage as a psychological container -- The Couple and the Individual -- Introduction -- Individuation in marriage -- The individual and the couple -- The impenetrable other: ambivalence and the oedipal conflict in work with couples -- Betrayal of troth -- A Therapeutic Approach to the Couple Relationship -- Introduction -- Therapeutic intervention in relation to the institution of marriage -- Thinking about and working with couples