A psychodynamic approach to short-term couples therapy in clinical social work : some aspects of the combined conjoint-concurrent technique

Leibowitz, Michael S

A psychodynamic approach to short-term couples therapy in clinical social work : some aspects of the combined conjoint-concurrent technique

Master Thesis

1987

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Social Development

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

In this dissertation, the writer explores and supports the validity of clinical social wor·k practitioners applying planned therapeutic intervention procedures to couples who are in distress. Written in two parts, this paper is esentially a review of selected literature on the efficacy of social work psychotherapv with couples. Couple therapy, which deals with the two individuals per se and not merely with their interaction, enhances the treatment of both partners. Several intervention strategies are noted by the writer, all of which attempt to alter both individual dynamics and that of the couples relationship. The writer has chosen a "fusion model" comprising of the intra and inter-personal intervention strategies. The therapeutic format of choice proposed by the writer favours a time-limited psychodynamic approach which operates through the medium of a combined concurrent-conjoint technique.