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Behavioral Couple Therapy

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy

  • 104 Accesses

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

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Justin A. Lavner

Authors
  1. Justin A. Lavner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Justin A. Lavner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jay L. Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Anthony L. Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Brian Baucom

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Lavner, J.A. (2019). Behavioral Couple 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_105

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