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Introduction
Many couples and families experience significant benefits from therapy, with numerous outcome studies and meta-analyses illustrating the effectiveness of couple and family therapy (Shadish and Baldwin 2009). Nevertheless, a significant number of clients struggle to maintain the progress they experienced in therapy (Carlson and Ellis 2004; Snyder et al. 2006). Therefore, it is critical that therapists work with clients to prepare for the end of treatment and identify specific efforts couples and families can do to maintain progress, solidify changes, and minimize the chance of relapse or falling back into old patterns.
Theoretical Context for Concept
Although there is relatively little empirical research on maintenance in couple and family therapy, it is an integral part of treatment for most clinicians who work with couples and families. Therapists are well aware that gains made in therapy can be fragile and short-lived. Some research suggests...
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References
Carlson, J., & Ellis, C. (2004). Treatment agreement and relapse prevention strategies in couple and family therapy. The Family Journal, 12(4), 352–357.
Carlson, J., & Sperry, L. (1993). Extending treatment results in couples therapy. Individual Psychology: Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research & Practice, 49(3–4), 450–455.
Gottman, J. M., & Gottman, J. S. (1999). The marriage survival kit: A research-based marital therapy. In R. Berger & M. T. Hannah (Eds.), Preventive approaches in couples therapy (pp. 304–330). New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Shadish, W. R., & Baldwin, S. A. (2009). Meta-analysis of MFT interventions. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 29, 547–570.
Snyder, D. K., Castellani, A. M., & Whisman, M. A. (2006). Current status and future direction in couple therapy. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 317–344.
Weeks, G. R., & Fife, S. T. (2014). Couples in treatment: Techniques and approaches for effective practice (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.
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Fife, S.T., Squires, M. (2017). Maintenance in Couple and Family 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_586-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_586-1
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