Introduction
Discernment counseling is a short-term intervention for “mixed-agenda” couples where one partner is leaning out of the relationship and is ambivalent about doing couples therapy, and the other partner wants to preserve the relationship and start couples therapy. Therapists often struggle with these couples because there is no common commitment to therapy (Crosby 1989). Discernment counseling is a “pre-therapy” protocol in which the goal is to help the spouses develop greater clarity and confidence about a direction for the marriage, based on a deeper understanding of what’s happened to the marriage and each partner’s contributions to the problems. It is intended for couples who are married or have otherwise made a permanent commitment. The focus is not whether to divorce or stay married for life, but whether to divorce or carve out a 6-month period of all-out effort in couples therapy to restore the marriage to health, with divorce off the table during that time.
Prominent...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bowen, M., & Kerr, M. E. (2009). Family evaluation. New York: W. W. Norton.
Crosby, J. F. (Ed.). (1989). When one wants out and the other doesn’t: Doing therapy with polarized couples. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Doherty, W. J., Harris, S. M., & Wilde, J. L. (2016). Discernment counseling for “mixed-agenda” couples. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 42, 246–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12132.
Miculincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2012). Adult attachment orientations and relationship processes. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 4, 259–274. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-2589.2012.00142.
Rholes, W. S., & Simpson, W. J. (Eds.). (2006). Adult attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications. New York: Guilford.
Vaughn, D. (1986). Uncoupling: How relationships come apart. New York: Oxford University Press.
Weiss, R. W. (1975). Marital separation. New York: Basic.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Doherty, W.J. (2019). Discernment Counseling in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_696
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_696
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49423-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49425-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences