The Therapist's Imagination of Self in Relation to Clients: Beginning Ideas on the Flexibility of Empathic Imagination

The therapist's capacity to imagine is one specific part of the endeavour of empathy which lies at the heart of the processes of the therapeutic relationship. This article offers beginning ideas about the significance of therapist's imagination of self in relation to her/his clients in the task of trying to understand their experience. In seeking to ‘understand’ the experience of others, the therapist is able to move between an imagination of sameness/identification with the client/s, and an imagination of difference/‘foreignness’. The family therapy orientation of curiosity and ‘not‐knowing’ relies on the imagination of self as different to our clients; more traditional understandings of empathic connection rely more heavily on the imagination of sameness/identification with clients. This article argues that flexibility in the therapist's use of self in moving between these positions allows an expanded capacity for therapeutic connectedness. These ideas have special valence in the practice territories of impasse and intercultural therapy.     

Hospitality in Family Therapy Practice: A Further Engagement with Jacques Derrida

Derrida's concept of hospitality has been proposed by some authors working from a collaborative perspective as an interesting tool to reflect on the therapeutic relationship as an ethical relationship in which the therapist develops a welcoming openness to the client. In this paper, we engage with this recent emphasis on the therapist's ethical position of welcoming the client's otherness and turn to Jacques Derrida's original texts with the aim of developing an in‐depth understanding of what exactly is at stake in this therapeutic position of hospitality. This reading evolves into an understanding of how Derrida's notion of hospitality invites clinicians to identify how the therapeutic position intricately intertwines healing and violence. The concept of hospitality calls on therapists to accept the complexity of therapeutic responsibility as a form of supportive presence that necessarily and simultaneously involves the violence of appropriation and power difference.     

Reconstructing a Sense of Relational Agency in Family Therapy

The concept of agency is relevant in family therapy. As family therapists we approach each family member as a full agent, which means that what each person thinks and feels, makes sense, and that each person contributes in a significant way to the construction of a relationship. A person's sense of relational agency is constructed in relationships through processes of relational influence. Thus, agency is a relational construct and is dependent on bidirectional transactions in a relationship. A person's sense of relational agency refers to the belief a person has about being able to influence another person, that this influence is significant for the other, makes a difference for the other, and contributes to the construction of the relationship. Many family members who enter therapy have lost their sense of relational agency. In this paper we discuss ideas how to reconstruct family members’ sense of relational agency in therapeutic practice.     

The Affordance Utilization Model: Communication Technology Use as Relationships Develop

This essay proposes an affordance utilization model (AUM) that aims to understand the role of relationship development in communication technology use. The AUM draws from research regarding (1) social penetration theory and (2) the communication technology affordances of asynchronicity (i.e., a time lag between when a message is constructed and received) and reduced cues (i.e., the lack of visual and/or vocal cues). It proposes that these affordances are positively associated with communication competence and self-disclosure but that relationship development affects these associations. The AUM proposes that as relationships become more developed, communication technology affordances are less likely to be associated with communication competence and self-disclosure in relationships. The AUM also proposes that as relationships become more developed, relational partners will see affordances as less important and will use them less. Potential implications of the AUM for research on communication technologies in relationships are discussed.     

Cotrainers as Models of Relationships: Effects of the Outcome of Couples Therapy

This study investigated the generally neglected effects of the cotrainer relationship in studies of the outcome of couples communication training. Male-female cotrainer pairs modeled verbal dominance patterns similar or dissimilar to those of client couples. As hypothesized, changes in couples' speaking patterns after a two-hour workshop mirrored their trainers' models. Female-dominated couples exhibited greater modeling of dominance patterns, and male-dominated couples exposed to a dominant female trainer reported relatively negative impressions of both trainers. The need for cotrainers to be aware of the relationship models they present and clients' responses to these models is discussed.     

Relationships Between (Step)Parents and Adult (Step)Children: Explaining Influences on Life Satisfaction and Marital Quality

The purpose of this study was to examine important influences of adult (step)children’s relationships with their biological fathers, biological mothers, and resident stepparents on their life satisfaction and marital quality and the moderating role of stepparent gender. The sample (N = 215) was from Wave 3 of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH). Results illustrate that (a) biological mothers and stepparents positively influenced life satisfaction among adult (step)children regardless of stepfamily type; and (b) that the influence of parent–child relationship quality on the adult child’s marital quality did vary as a function of stepfamily type. Specifically, there was a positive link between current stepmother–child relationship quality and the focal child’s current marital quality. The opposite link was found for those reared in stepfather households.     

Captured by the Game: Might a Focus on the ‘Therapeutic Relationship’ Diminish the Attention We Give to the Client's Intimate Network?

A recent project sought to clarify how psychotherapists and mental health workers understand psychosocial health and pathology. In this enquiry, I paid particular attention to the client's interpersonal networks: did the professionals actively consider, and if so to what extent, ‘intimate social and family relationships’ in constructing their understanding of the presenting problem and in the process they used for goal setting. Twenty‐two semi‐structured interviews were undertaken, eleven with psychotherapists and eleven with mental health workers. Across both groups, interviewees tended not to see their clients as embedded, relational entities, but primarily, often quite exclusively, as autonomous beings. Second, interviewees accorded a high value to the importance of ‘the therapeutic relationship’. Is it possible that the emphasis practitioners place on ‘the therapeutic relationship’ has the effect of marginalising the attention that is given to the client's significant‐other network?     

Problematic Domains of Romantic Relationships as a Function of Attachment Insecurity and Gender

Theoretically, securely attached adults view the world as safe and see their romantic partners as emotionally available, supportive, and non-threatening. Little is known, however, about which relationship domains are most problematic for securely (versus insecurely) attached adults. To fill this gap, we asked 62 adults in committed relationships to complete the Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Revised (MSI-R; Snyder, 1997), a measure of the frequency and severity of 10 kinds of couple problems, and the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R; Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000), a measure of attachment insecurity. High Avoidance and Anxiety were associated with numerous relationship problems being rated as frequent and severe. A canonical correlation showed that 26.5% of the variance in the set of relational problem areas was accounted for by attachment insecurity and gender. While greater attachment security was associated with fewer perceived difficulties in affective communication, irrespective of gender, greater Avoidance and Anxiety were associated with more difficulties in this area. Female participants with high Anxiety (and low Avoidance) reported more global relationship and family-of-origin distress, but fewer financial disagreements and less difficult problem-solving communication; conversely, male participants with high Avoidance (and low Anxiety) reported more financial disagreements and difficult problem-solving communication, but less global relationship and family-of-origin distress. These results have implications for practice by suggesting ways in which couples’ attachment dynamics can become manifested in specific kinds of relational difficulties.     

Father Involvement in Infancy: Influences of Past and Current Relationships

Men's childhood experiences with their parents, their current relationship with their partners, and demographic factors were examined in relation to father‐infant interactions. Participants were 60 racially and ethnically diverse, inner‐city men and their 6‐ to 11‐month‐old infants. Father‐infant interactions were videotaped during semistructured free play in participants' homes. The quality of men's interactions with their infants was assessed using Likert ratings of their responsive‐didactic and negative‐overbearing behaviors. Men engaged in significantly more responsive‐didactic behaviors than negative‐overbearing behaviors. A cumulative score of protective demographic factors (i.e., men residing with their infants, being married, completing high school, and obtaining income above the sample's median level) and men's experiences of childhood acceptance from their fathers uniquely predicted their responsive‐didactic behaviors. Men's relationships with their partners were homogeneously strong and unrelated to fathering behaviors. This study builds on extant literature by providing a broader conceptualization of father‐infant relationships and applying observational methods to the study of fathering in minority, low‐income men.     

Sibling Relationships and Influences in Childhood and Adolescence

The authors review the literature on sibling relationships in childhood and adolescence, starting by tracing themes from foundational research and theory and then focusing on empirical research during the past 2 decades. This literature documents siblings' centrality in family life, sources of variation in sibling relationship qualities, and the significance of siblings for child and adolescent development and adjustment. Sibling influences emerge not only in the context of siblings' frequent and often emotionally intense interactions but also by virtue of siblings' role in larger family system dynamics. Although siblings are building blocks of family structure and key players in family dynamics, their role has been relatively neglected by family scholars and by those who study close relationships. Incorporating study of siblings into family research provides novel insights into the operation of families as social and socializing systems.     

Reporting suspected child maltreatment: Managing the emotional and relational aftermath

Social workers who report suspected child maltreatment often struggle with the potential consequences to the client–worker relationship. Families who are reported may have intense feelings and reactions that can lead to premature termination or a compromised relationship that interferes with optimal treatment. This article explores Ontario social workers’ retrospective evaluations of the impact of reporting suspected child maltreatment. Participants described a range of feelings, reactions, and impacts to the therapeutic relationship and clinical work. The subjective appraisals, obtained through an online survey, lead to practice recommendations.     

The Power of Relationship: A study of key working as an intervention with traumatised young people

This paper explores the role of the key working relationship in helping traumatised and characteristically hard-to-reach young people. A grounded theory approach was used to analyse data from 18 semi-structured interviews carried out with both key workers and young users in a community-based, innovative project in Inner London, Kids Company. The following four codes emerged: titrating intimacy, the power of relationship, the therapeutic function of hope and ‘knowing your own ghosts’. As well as supporting the important therapeutic function of the key working relationship, this paper draws on the analysis of the data to outline a three-phase model of intervention (fostering place attachment–homeostatic attunement–disruptive attunement) when working with traumatised and often hard-to-reach young people.     

Practicing in the Uncertain: Reworking Standardized Clients as Improv Theatre

In this paper, I rework standardized client activities using improvisational methods. While standardized client approaches to teaching/learning interviewing skills have been proven to be effective in increasing students' competence, I suggest that enhancing these practices with the ideas and approaches of improvisational theatre provides opportunities for the creativity that characterizes advanced practice. Improvisational theatre's focus on spontaneity and intuition foregrounds three elements of practice. These include unconscious and emotional knowledge, the relational nature of practice, and the variability and unpredictability of the interview. Reframing standardized client activities through improvisational theory and practice offers students an explicit framework for making sense of simulations as creative, spontaneous spaces for learning.     

A Preliminary Comparison Study of Online and Face-to-Face Counseling: Client Perceptions of Three Factors

This preliminary study examined the similarities and differences between online and face-to-face counseling with regard to general mental health, working alliance, and social presence. Participants included 50 current counseling clients (37 face-to-face, 13 online) who all were recruited through online mediums. Results indicated that online counseling clients perceived a significantly stronger working alliance on the total Working Alliance Inventory-Short Form as well as the Goal subscale than did those who received face-to-face only counseling. No significant differences existed between the groups on general mental health or social presence. These results suggest that a more controlled study with a larger sample might find that a strong working alliance can be developed through online counseling.     

The Structure of Empathy in Social Work Practice

This article presents a detailed theoretical framework demonstrating how empathy is used in the practice of social work. This consists of affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions of empathy and delineates six latent constructs that make up these dimensions. These constructs are (1) caring, (2) congruence, (3) interpersonal sensitivity, (4) perspective taking, (5) altruism, and (6) the therapeutic relationship. Evolutionary, sociological, and neuroscience theories are used to describe empathy's origins as a historically adaptive and interactional process, and social work theories emphasize empathy as an interpersonal helping strategy and organizing principle essential to the practice of social work.     

Maternal Work–Family Conflict and Psychological Distress: Reciprocal Relationships Over 8 Years

The relationships between employed mothers' work–family conflict and psychological distress are unlikely to be static or one way. Using longitudinal data, the authors investigated reciprocal effects between work–family conflict and psychological distress across 8 years of the family life cycle. They modeled cross‐lagged structural equations over 5 biennial waves of data, in 4 overlapping samples of Australian mothers reentering work between child ages 0–1 to 8–9 (N range: 1,027–2,449). The findings revealed that work–family conflict and psychological distress are distinctive aspects of mothers' well‐being that influence each other over time. Reciprocal influences were not confined to one period of parenting but continued as children grew older. Associations persisted after controlling for a range of work and family characteristics, and there was no evidence of mediation by family socioeconomic status, maternal age, or job quality. The findings suggest that employed mothers may benefit from policies and workplace practices that both promote maternal well‐being and reduce conflicts between employment and raising children.     

Deception in Family Therapy: Recognition,Implications, and Intervention

Deception, in its many forms, is present in families and relationships across the globe. The impact of the presence and discovery of family secrets or deceptive acts on the individual, the family unit, and the therapeutic process, particularly in the field of marriage and family therapy, has not been thoroughly studied or discussed. Further, deceptive acts during the therapeutic process may have implications for effective treatment planning. This article defines the various forms of deception and its systemic effects on relationships and on the therapeutic process. Possible interventions to address deception in a family therapeutic setting are proposed.     

Structuring Home-Based Therapy: Four Phases to Effective Treatment

ABSTRACT

Home-based services are gaining more popularity than in years past. Therapists going into the home are exposed to various treatment issues that differ from those in a clinic or office setting. One of these issues is that of structuring the therapeutic process. Much has been written about the structure and stages of clinic-based therapy; however, little is known about the process of home-based therapy. This paper will delineate four phases of home-based therapy which the in-home therapist can use as a guide to provide faster and more effective services.     

Staying Connected: An Examination of Relationship Maintenance Behaviors in Long-Distance Relationships

Romantic long-distance relationships (LDRs) are becoming increasingly prevalent as individuals seek educational and employment opportunities across the globe. LDRs create unique challenges for couples, potentially impacting couple and individual well-being. It is important to understand efforts that LDR partners make to stay engaged, known as relationship maintenance behaviors (RMBs), and whether common RMBs facilitate or hinder relational and individual functioning. This study has two goals: (a) to examine whether RMBs predict relationship satisfaction and (b) to investigate whether relationship satisfaction mediates the association between RMBs and individual functioning. Eighty-seven adults in LDRs participated in our online survey. Results indicated that RMBs predicted relationship satisfaction, some negatively, and that relationship satisfaction was a mediator between RMBs and individual well-being.     

A Mandate for Honesty: Jeff Young's No Bullshit Therapy

Jeff Young talks about having been trained to be formal with clients, and his gradual realisation that he could return to the more direct ways of speech he learned as a child, and combine that with warmth. He found that clients and fellow professionals welcomed a therapist who did not ‘beat around the bush’. Together, Jeff and Ron talk about when directness is appropriate, and how directness needs to be modified for particular clients.