1st Edition
Couples in Conflict Clinical Techniques for Navigating Sexual and Relationship Control Struggles
In the first book of its kind, Dr. Stephen J. Betchen teaches established and training marriage and family therapists to recognize the complexity and contradictions of control struggles in couples and, uniquely, how to clinically treat these issues to create a harmonious, long relationship.
Integrating conflict theory, psychodynamic systems work, and the basic principles of sex therapy, the book aims to help professionals recognize and assess control struggles in couples, detect and examine their origin, and offer techniques to help break the struggle and alleviate its associated symptoms. Chapters begin by defining control and where the origin of control comes from before exploring how these origins and other sociocultural factors impact how we choose our partners. The book’s second half examines how clinicians should assess and treat couples with both sexual and nonsexual symptoms, how to avoid being caught in the control crossfire as a therapist, and how to terminate sessions and prevent relapses.
Filled with case studies and useful interventions throughout, this book aims to help clinicians working with all couples across cultures and sexual orientations find a common ground. It is indispensable for training and graduate clinicians that work with couples, especially couples with sexual disorders.
Section I Clinical Theory 1. Introduction: Control and Conflict 2. The Origin of Control Struggles 3. The Unconscious Process of Mate Selection 4. Controlling Styles Section II Clinical Assessment 5. Assessing Couples with Control Struggles Section III Clinical Treatment 6. Treatment Techniques for Couples with Control Struggles 7. How the Couple’s Therapist Can Avoid Being Caught in a Control Struggle 8. Termination and Relapse Prevention
Biography
Stephen J. Betchen, DSW, is a licensed marriage and family therapist, an AAMFT-approved supervisor, and an AASECT diplomate and certified supervisor. For many years he served as a senior supervisor in the post-graduate Sex Therapy Program at the Council for Relationships and as an adjunct clinical professor in the Department of Couple and Family Therapy at Thomas Jefferson University. He currently maintains a full-time private practice in New Jersey specializing in couples’ and sex therapy.
"Stephen Betchen continues to be a leader in the next wave of sex and couple’s therapy. In Couples in Conflict, he continues to expound upon his innovative treatment model that is both theoretically rich and clinically nuanced. A master therapist himself, Betchen continues to mentor both novice and experienced clinicians in developing a deeper, more philosophical, and clinically effective means of assisting couples in resolving their most tenaciously ensconced dysfunctional patterns. Every couples and/or sex therapist should pay close attention to Betchen’s teachings. The practice of couples therapy will be richer for it."
Daniel N. Watter, EdD, Past-President, The Society for Sex Therapy and Research (SSTAR)
"Once again, Stephen Betchen demonstrates his exceptional proficiency in dealing with human conflict. This time he presents another comprehensive text which addresses an elusive yet common problem in couple/sex therapy: the battle for control. Betchen proposes a treatment model that transforms a complex paradigm into palatable elements for the beginning as well as advanced couple/sex therapist. I highly recommend Couples in Conflict."
Nancy Gambescia, PhD, Former Director, Post-Graduate Sex Therapy Program, Council for Relationships, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"Couples" and "conflict" go hand in hand. Therapists who work with couples find themselves as relational referees who, at the end of the day, just want to be helpful. Dr. Betchen’s Couples in Conflict shows how. It is a clear, step by step, situation specific "how to," that directs clinicians from the distancing tensions of "Here" to the deeper connections of "Their."
Jay Lappin, MSW, LCSW, Minuchin Center for the Family
