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Behavioral Couple Therapy

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy
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Name of Model

Behavioral couple therapy (BCT)

Synonyms

Behavioral marital therapy (BMT); Traditional behavioral couple therapy (TBCT)

Introduction

Since its development several decades ago, BCT has grown into one of the most widely used couple therapy modalities and has been the most widely studied form of couple therapy. This treatment also forms the basis for later iterations of behaviorally based couple therapy, including cognitive behavioral couple therapy, enhanced cognitive behavioral couple therapy, and integrative behavioral couple therapy. These later treatments adopt many of the theoretical tenets and therapeutic strategies described here while also expanding on this foundational approach to include other domains such as cognition (cognitive behavioral couple therapy) and acceptance (integrative behavioral couple therapy).

Prominent Associated Figures

Neil Jacobson; Gayla Margolin; Richard Stuart; Robert Weiss

Theoretical Framework

BCT is based on behavioral exchange...

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References

  • Baucom, D. H., Shoham, V., Mueser, K. T., Daituo, A. D., & Stickle, T. R. (1998). Empirically supported couple and family interventions for marital distress and adult mental health problems. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 53–88. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.66.1.53.

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Correspondence to Justin A. Lavner .

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Lavner, J.A. (2018). Behavioral Couple Therapy. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_105-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_105-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

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