Sections
Behavioral Couples Therapy: Introduction | Traditional Behavioral Couples Therapy | Cognitive-Behavioral Couples Therapy | Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy | Conclusion | Key Points | References | Suggested Readings
Excerpt
For the last 35 years, behaviorally oriented
clinicians have adapted principles of behavior therapy to the problems
of couples. They have carefully assessed couples and documented
the success of their therapeutic interventions. As a result, there
is a large body of evidence on the effectiveness of behavioral couples therapy
(BCT). Dozens of randomized clinical trials have shown that BCT
is better than no treatment or placebo treatment. These studies
are summarized in major reviews (Baucom et al. 1998; Christensen and Heavey 1999; Snyder et al. 2006) and meta-analytic
studies (Baucom et al. 2003; Shadish and Baldwin 2005).
In the most recent of these meta-analytic studies, Shadish and Baldwin (2005) concluded that BCT "might be
viewed as a mature therapy, with relatively fewer questions left
to research compared with these newer therapies" (p. 11).