Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy and the Facilitation of Forgiveness

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an emotion-focused couple therapy intervention for resolving emotional injuries. Twenty couples acting as their own waitlist controls were offered a 10–12-session treatment to help resolve unresolved anger and hurt from a betrayal, an abandonment, or an identity insult that they had been unable to resolve for at least 2 years. Treated couples fared significantly better on all outcome measures over the treatment period compared to the waitlist period. They showed a significant improvement in dyadic satisfaction, trust, and forgiveness as well as improvement on symptom and target complaint measures. Changes were maintained on all of the measures at 3-month follow-up except trust, on which the injured partners deteriorated. At the end of treatment, 11 couples were identified as having completely forgiven their partners and six had made progress toward forgiveness compared with only three having made progress toward forgiveness over the waitlist period. The results suggest that EFT is effective in alleviating marital distress and promoting forgiveness in a brief period of time but that additional sessions may be needed to enhance enduring change.     

Differentiation of Self and the Process of Forgiveness: A Clinical Perspective for Couple and Family Therapy

In this article we explore the role of differentiation of self in facilitating forgiveness in the context of couple and family relationships. Differentiation is defined from the Bowen perspective as the ability to connect with others without being excessively emotionally reactive to the ebb and flow inherent in all significant relationships (being able to connect to others yet also being able to self‐regulate). Forgiveness is described as the releasing of an emotional injury via a complex psychological and relational process that is less an act of will than a discovery or possibility through understanding and empathy. Differentiation of self is related to emotional intelligence and empathy. The developmental and relational benefits of such are illustrated and discussed. A rationale for viewing differentiation and forgiveness in a contextual, historical, and relational attachment paradigm is suggested. Relevant clinical cases illustrate the dynamics of differentiation and forgiveness as discovery in the context of an understanding and empathic relational environment.     

Exploring the Place of Forgiveness Therapy in Social Work Practice

This paper examines the potential contribution of forgiveness therapy to social workers who may often encounter clients who have experienced severe interpersonal injury, or who have inflicted significant harm upon themselves or others. Basic theoretical and empirical perspectives on the processes and dynamics of forgiveness, as well as an introduction to forgiveness therapy, are provided. A case example demonstrating the application of forgiveness therapy in a social work setting is utilized to underscore points of convergence and potential divergence between this innovative therapeutic approach and important social work values and practice concepts. Research directions that may promote the further incorporation of forgiveness and forgiveness therapy into social work are indicated.     

Woman Abuse and Conjoint Therapy: Therapists' Experiences of Engagement

ABSTRACT

Treatment approaches with couples in which woman abuse is a factor have been the subject of much attention and concern in the therapeutic community. We used focus groups to examine therapists' experiences of what they see as impeding or facilitating their ability to engage therapeutically with heterosexual couples when a man has used violence. Results were coded along four categories: contextual issues, the person of the therapist, client characteristics, and strategies for enhancing engagement. Results point to the difficulties therapist participants experienced engaging with males who have been violent with their partner. Strategies which therapists used to enhance engagement are illuminated. We discuss differences between the experiences of male and female therapists, and implications for clinical work and future research.     

Towards the Incorporation of Forgiveness Therapy in Healing the Complex Trauma of Parental Incarceration

This paper explores the potential contribution of forgiveness therapy to the treatment of minor children who have experienced the adversities associated with parental incarceration. Theoretical perspectives on the imprisonment of parents and on forgiveness, and a survey of existing forgiveness therapy (FT) models points to the utility of this therapeutic modality. DiBlasio’s family based conjoint model of forgiveness therapy is delineated and case illustrations of its application with children of incarcerated parents are presented. The possibility of forgiveness therapy facilitating successful family reentry is discussed, along with important limitations and contraindications of FT with youngsters whose parents are involved in the criminal justice system. Implications of forgiveness therapy for the field of practice of child and adolescent social work are considered.     

The Application of the Culturagram in Cross-Cultural Practice with Elder Abuse Victims

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the application of the Culturagram, a screening instrument designed to assist practitioners to work more effectively in the assessment and detection of family abuse among immigrant elders. Case studies of selected immigrant groups are presented to illustrate how the Culturagram can be used to promote culturally sensitive practice with immigrant families where elder abuse may be a factor. Assessment, detection, and intervention strategies specific to selected immigrant groups are included in the discussion.     

Social work intervention with Bedouin-Arab children in the context of blood vengeance.

Blood vengeance is a culturally specific phenomenon that can place Bedouin-Arab children at high risk of neglect. This case study examines the psychological and social implications of vengeance on children, the children's coping strategies, and the role of social work. The social work function includes nonauthoritarianism, strategies for forming a positive helping alliance, and various forms of culturally sensitive assessment and intervention. The study therefore yields insight into bridging the emic-etic gap in conceptualizing and responding to child neglect in a non-Western society.     

Developing a Working Model of Cross-Cultural Supervision: A Competence- and Alliance-Based Framework

Despite numerous suggestions to integrate culture, diversity and social justice issues in clinical supervision, empirical studies on cross-cultural supervision indicate limited uptake of such recommendations. We suggest that a comprehensive model of cross-cultural supervision could benefit the field by guiding supervisors in this task. A working model is proposed based on a foundation of the supervisory alliance and a focus on social work practice competence, integrating strategies to promote self- and relational-reflexivity within the supervisory relationship. The model is comprised of four components: component 1: goal setting to contract on cross-cultural integration in supervision; component 2: active listening for cross-cultural markers; component 3: bonding through the supervisor’s self-reflexivity to foster the supervisee’s self-reflexivity; and component 4: working through tasks for cultural integration in supervision by modelling the supervisor’s relational reflexivity in case formulation and treatment to foster the supervisee’s relational-reflexivity.     

Empirical Support for the Application of the Forgiveness Intervention Model to Postdivorce Coparenting

The Forgiveness Intervention Model (Bonach, 2007 Bonach, K. 2007. Forgiveness Intervention Model: Application to coparenting post-divorce. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 48(1/2): 105–123.  [Google Scholar]) is tested as a conceptual framework for former partners who are coparenting. Scores of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of forgiveness from a sample of 135 separated or divorced parents were analyzed to contribute to the understanding of coparenting quality. Previous literature supported the contribution of certain predictor variables, including blame, offense severity judgments, and control variables including hostile divorce proceedings, satisfaction with child custody financial arrangements, perceived remorsefulness of the former partner, prior conflict, and the mediating role of forgiveness to coparenting quality. In this study separate regression analyses were run for each dimension of forgiveness to determine their role in the relationship between the study variables and coparenting quality. The cognitive dimension more often had the most significant contribution between the variables examined and coparenting quality. Furthermore, higher coparenting quality was significantly correlated with how positively an individual feels (r?=?.49, p?<?.001) and thinks about the former partner (r?=?.50, p?<?.001). The findings affirm the clinical importance of primary cognitive tasks necessary for an individual to move through the stages of forgiveness to “move on” and achieve desirable outcomes such as a quality coparenting relationship with a former partner.     

Rapid Social Change and the Turmoil of Adolescence: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

This article is a selective literature review, viewing adolescence in a cross-cultural perspective. Starting with the Mead/Freeman controversy, it centers on the following question: Which are the cultural contexts that best ensure a smooth transition from childhood to adulthood? The review covers some of the ethnographic research, both case studies and work using the hologeistic method (those using the Human Relations Area Files), and some of the research in cross-cultural and developmental psychology, but neither cross-national comparisons nor studies with migrants in multicultural societies. It is found that social adolescence is a universal life stage, but that it takes very different forms in different societies. Its extension into a youthperiod occurred in societies with an age-grade system, and is nowadays linked to urbanization, industrialization, and formal education. Adolescence does not need to be a period of storm and stress, and the generation gap and problem behaviors considered a “normal” part of adolescence are in fact culturally produced. In many situations, these problematic aspects of adolescence are linked to rapid social change or acculturation, most often in the form of westernization. Societies that manage to keep some continuity, cultural identity, and basic values such as family solidarity, often also manage to avoid importing the problems of adolescence despite social change. Of importance are the tolerance and flexibility of adults, close contact between generations, appropriate role-learning and acceptance into the adult community, including in the economic sphere.     

Therapeutic Forgiveness: Developing a Model for Empowering Victims of Sexual Abuse

Forgiveness is increasingly popular in therapy as a way to facilitate healing, but there are definitional discrepancies and confusion regarding the degree to which it is conceptualized as either an interpersonal/relational or an independent/self-enhancing process. In this article forgiveness is conceptualized as an interpersonal process linked to apology or contrition on the part of the offender. Yet it is also independent. A model is described that was developed for the benefit of abuse victims whose offenders will not or cannot apologize. Using the model, victims can accomplish for themselves what would be accomplished for them through an apology.     

Time Use of Employed Mothers in Korea: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

This study examines the time use patterns of full-time employed Korean mothers who did not use outside household help. To gain insight into the potential work overload of employed mothers, their time use patterns were compared with those of unemployed mothers and of employed mothers in Japan and the United States. Results show that employed mothers in Korea allocate considerably less time to physiological and social and recreational activities than nonemployed Korean mothers. Employed mothers in Korea spend considerably larger amounts of time in work activities and significantly less time in physiological activities than their counterparts in Japan and the United States.     

Global Public Relations: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Excellence Theory in South Korea

This study applies the global theory of generic principles and specific applications, based on the excellence study, to South Korea. Data were collected using the International Association of Business Communicators's excellence questionnaire and Hofstede's cultural values questionnaire. Results show that the excellence theory could be used to explain South Korean public relations practice. In addition, findings on influence of societal culture show that excellent public relations practice in South Korea may be enhanced by collectivism and dynamic elements of Confucianism.     

A Model of Animal Selfhood: Expanding Interactionist Possibilities

Interaction between people and companion animals provides the basis for a model of the self that does not depend on spoken language. Drawing on ethnographic research in an animal shelter as well as interviews and auto‐ethnography, this article argues that interaction between people and animals contributes to human selfhood. In order for animals to contribute to selfhood in the ways that they do, they must be subjective others and not just the objects of anthropomorphic projection. Several dimensions of subjectivity appear among dogs and cats, constituting a “core” self consisting of agency, coherence, affectivity, and history. Conceptualizing selfhood in this way offers critical access to animals' subjective presence and adds to existing interactionist research on relationships between people and animals.     

A Re-Conceptualization of the Working Alliance in Cross-Cultural Practice with Non-Western Clients: Integrating Relational Perspectives and Multicultural Theories

This article will addresses a gap in the literature regarding the working alliance in cross-cultural treatment. The paper draws on references from current relational theories and multicultural conceptual and empirical sources to re-conceptualize the definition of the working alliance to include cross-cultural dynamics between Asian clients and European-American therapists as a case in point. The paper includes an overview of the working alliance, and a proposal for the inclusion of specific relational domains that this author has found to be important for the definition of the working alliance. These domains are empathy, mutuality, the dynamics of power and authority, the use of self, and the process of communication. A case vignette is included to illustrate these discrete domains. The paper opens new directions for clinical practice and research in the area of the working alliance in cross-cultural counseling.     

Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy with a Family in High-Conflict Divorce: A Case Study

Children who live in families with high-conflict divorce situations are increasingly coming to the attention of clinicians. This paper explains the nature of the impasse of high-conflict divorce. It presents a brief theoretical overview of cognitive-behavioral family therapy as an effective approach to treatment for high-conflict divorce families. A case study that successfully utilized a cognitive-behavioral approach to family therapy is presented. Specific techniques such as parent training, communication and empathy skills, problem-solving skills, assertiveness training, role-modeling on the part of the therapist and application of the concept of reciprocal inhibition were included in the cognitive-behavioral family treatment. An N=1 research design is graphically illustrated for evaluation purposes.     

Coming Out Disabled: A Transsexual Woman Considers Queer Contributions to Living with Disability

The author provides an autobiographical illustration of the similarities in coming out lesbian, transsexual, bisexual, or gay and taking visible steps to address a previously invisible disability. The essay begins with a comparison of personal experiences of transsexuality and invisible disability, and addresses the advantages of applying the coming out model to the author's disability. The author concludes that coming out is a process model that disabled individuals can use to aid a transition to caring for a new or worsening personal disability.