Couples Therapy Research Newsletter 2/2024
The research in the university library has once again paid off. In addition to the usual journals like Family Process and the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, I stumbled upon many studies on Researchgate, particularly from Iran. These studies mainly focused on the efficiency and effectiveness of various therapy forms as well as comparisons between therapy forms. While there was little directly applicable for everyday couple therapy, those interested can find more here. If anyone has an explanation for why there is so much published on this topic in Iran, I would appreciate a brief response; I’m curious about that.
For this newsletter, I made sure that the studies mentioned are either open access or that the full text can be requested from the authors via Researchgate.
Two studies focused on the topic of “power in relationships”. One addressed how we can address power in couple therapy, and another on the topic of handling money in relationships and how it can lead to aggression in relationships.
A study from Saudi Arabia optimized the Divorce Predictions Scale (DPS) with algorithms to reliably predict the likelihood of divorce. I wasn’t aware of this scale until now, and I’m still undecided whether and how such a scale would be helpful or hindering in practice, but I find the idea and development worth reading. Here is the study.
Since I’m interested in the topics of online couple therapy and the use of digital tools in couple therapy, I present two studies on these subjects. One study examined the effectiveness of online tools such as apps, while the other explored how couple therapy changed during the pandemic.
Particularly interesting for daily practice was a study by two Belgian researchers that shed light on how the search for emotional closeness in couple therapy can trigger shame reactions in the partner. The study also provides insights into how we can better manage the process in such cases.
Also from Belgium is a study where women whose partners had an affair were interviewed. The results show that the healing process is more oscillating, with partners fluctuating between closeness and distance.
A study from the USA and Mexico explores how we can help couples with significant political differences in couple therapy. Read the study here.
A study that compares various assessment tools shows how assessment tools can help in working with multicultural couples in couple therapy.
In couple therapy, we also encounter couples who are challenged by complex traumas. This study provides an interesting introduction to how we can approach these traumas.
I hope that with this, I have provided some inspiration for our professional development.
